Local Voices

Seventeen-year-old Annie Wight is convinced that women and girls need to share their stories about health and healthcare with the local community if they are to break free of the isolation that disempowers them and take back control of their health and lives. In her campaign to reinstate women at the heart of hearthside healthcare, Annie finds herself pitted against Health England, a conservative think-tank backed by pharmaceutical giants and private healthcare providers. Pretexting the defence of the National Health Service, they stop at nothing to stamp out Annie's efforts, targeting not just her but those close to her, dragging their reputations in the gutter and wreaking havoc in friendships and affairs of the heart... but, as Annie says, "Women with a will can work wonders."

Alan McCluskey lives amid the vineyards in a small Swiss village between three lakes and a range of mountains. Nearby, several thousands of years earlier, lakeside villages housed a thriving Celtic community. The ever-present heart-beat of that world continues to fuel his long-standing fascination for magic and fantasy.
All Alan McCluskey's books are about the self-empowerment of the young, girls in particular, in a world that tends to curtail their opportunities, belittle their abilities and discourage them from doing great things. His books also explore the difficulties of those whose gender and sexuality lie beyond the dominant binary divide between boy and girl. His goal in writing fiction is to imagine inspiring ways forward, despite the difficulties thrown in the way of these young people.