A Time and a Time by Rosemary Manning

First published in 1971 under the pseudonym “Sarah Davys”, because the author was then running a private school for girls and felt that it was necessary to keep her identity a secret. The book begins with her suicide attempt, foiled by an unlikely sequence of events, and tells of her loneliness and depression, caused at least in part by the need to keep her lesbian identity secret. She explores ways of surviving and maintaining her integrity and creativity, rather than denying herself and the validity of her feelings. An elegantly written and moving book.