Samantha Clark enjoyed a busy career before returning home to Glasgow to take care of the house that her parents had left behind. The Clearing is a powerful memoir about grief, art and what we must do with the things we cannot know.

'As an artist, Clark is adept at dealing with metaphors and symbolism, and her forays into science and metaphysics feel like natural, unforced extensions of her grief and guilt, clarifying rather than obfuscating the path she has found through this turbulent phase of her life. Readers who have been through similar experiences will find much in this sensitive and articulate memoir which they can identify with and draw solace from. ' Herald

'Clark's lyrically written memoir is a sensitive and haunting account of what it is like to grow up with a mentally ill parent, and how it affected her family and own life. It is a powerful meditation about fractured relationships, human vulnerability and resilience, loneliness and death . . . this unflinching memoir should appeal to those coming to terms with their own grief or mental illness.' The Lady