- I’d like readers to know that in my book, ‘The Clinic’ ‘Amy’ is the most like me. Like her, I have experienced weight issues and lack of self-confidence. For years my weight yo-yo’d with fad diets and exercise. It wasn’t until I was thirty-nine years old that I was diagnosed with PCOS, a hormonal condition that can affect weight. I wished I’d known about it many years before.
- In the mid 90’s I worked in one of the last Victorian asylums in England. The hospital was on its last legs and was very much in decline. I was a fish out of water, and I was exposed to all kinds of things that I didn’t understand. I chaperoned female patients to Electric Shock therapy (ECT) and would escort patients alone, who would in the next moment have an episode so violent, they would need to be sedated.
- One day I was walking alone down the long corridors of the hospital and I began to wonder what would become of the building when it closed, and that thought never left me. I remember thinking that whatever it became, I would never set foot in it again. It was never about the people within, but the building itself. Years later I imagined a beauty and diet clinic setting up within its walls and that became the idea for the story.
- Part of my research involved attending extreme fasting clinics. We would walk for two hours a day, hiking through mud and up hills, surviving on soups and raw vegetables. I lost 14lbs in five days and I have never eaten cauliflower since!
- When I write, I like to lose myself in the atmosphere of the book. While writing The Clinic I would play Agnes Obel on a loop, close the blinds with only small, coloured fairy lights on and sit a mood board of old asylums and character ‘Inspo’ photos beside me. I also had a map of the hospital / clinic stuck to the wall, so I knew where each character could and couldn’t go. This was how I spent every day for nine months.
- The dog in the book (Duke) is based on a real-life Dobermann of the same name. He was a very loyal family dog from the 60’s / 70’s who would wander the streets during the day. Each afternoon he would take himself off and walk three miles, over bridges and through underpasses, to meet his owner at the end of her shift cleaning at a school.
- I love animals! I have had many dogs over the years, sometimes six at a time and mostly rescues. I have also had sheep, horses, giant millepedes and beetles. I currently live with (along with my human family!) three dogs, five pet pigs and three Giant African Land Snails.
The Clinic
UK top 100 seller by Sally Anne Martyn - out now
Synopsis:
A beauty clinic in a former asylum run by two women with something to hide.
A doctor who will stop at nothing to make the clinic a success. A troubled woman who spent time at the clinic when it was an asylum. Added to mix, a guest at the clinic who will do anything to transform her body.
Would you go to a beauty clinic offering to transform your life, that’s if you’re prepared to put the work in.It seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. An all-inclusive stay at a top-of-the-line wellness retreat for a month of pampering and luxury. The clinic is very selective with all the guests hand selected.Best of all they promise life changing results - a total transformation.All you have to do is take a few pills every day, join in the activities, and make some new friends.
It seems too good to be true – and maybe it is!You begin to lose track of time, the meals get smaller, and everything is taken away from you, and the guests mysteriously start disappearing.
Who will be next, will it be your turn - just don't go into the basement
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