Stoke-by-Clare teacher Rebecca Gosden’s debut novel inspired by personal experience to tackle themes of miscarriage and mental health
One new year’s resolution and six months of writing later, a Suffolk teacher has completed a lifelong ambition, with the release of her debut novel.
Rebecca Gosden launched her first book, No One So Much As You at the weekend, driven by themes close to her heart that she hopes will resonate with others.
The Stoke-by-Clare resident revealed the story is partly inspired by her own experience with miscarriage and the mental health challenge it creates for women and their families.
She hopes that, by promoting these themes, more people will be able to understand and relate to them, or spark recognition in themselves or someone else.
“I was coming up to a major midlife birthday and was evaluating what I had done,” Rebecca said.
“I set a new year’s resolution, because my background is in education, and I was telling young people to chase their dreams. It was always an ambition of mine to write a book, so I set myself a target.
“I find East Anglia really inspiring and I love books myself, so I thought I would write my own and there are a couple of issues I’m really passionate about.
“There are different themes with my two main characters – miscarriage and mental health. There’s a lot in the media about the impact of mental health, but not always the individuals’ suffering.
“It came together really quickly. I finished it in about six months. I’ve got a really busy job, so it really takes your mind off it.
“I found it a real stress compressor and I lost myself in that world. The ideas really flowed and the book almost started writing itself.”
No One So Much As You is a love story based around Charlotte, whose life was brought to a standstill after a miscarriage, and Max, whose successful acting career hides a struggle with mental health.
The characters connect over their shared sense of loss and self-loathing from their past tragedies, as the plot charts their shared journey towards understanding and accepting themselves.
For her book cover, Rebecca used a painting called Suffolk Sky by her brother Thomas Crittenden, a locally-based artist.
She said it was lovely her brother could also be part of the creative process and she was really excited to see her novel finally published.
“I feel very proud,” she said. “It’s the ultimate ambition to have it in print. To have something in your imagination and then see the actual book with a cover feels very surreal.
“For lots of people, we’ve got pre-conceived ideas of what is a successful life.
“Max appears to be successful, but is haunted by this past tragedy, and Charlotte has ideas of having a family, but because it doesn’t go to plan she starts making risky life choices.
“The story is about making connections, but it’s not that simple, because they both have a lot of baggage. It’s about their path to understanding each other by first understanding their own issues.
“I think it’s relatable, because mental health actually affects lots of different people and lots of families deal with different issues.”
Printed by The Book Guild Publishing, No One So Much As You is available now – go to bookguild.co.uk to learn more.
