35-year-old Miriam hasn't left her house in three years, and cannot raise her voice above a whisper. But today she has had enough, and is finally ready to rejoin the outside world. Maybe it's time to stop living in the shadow of her abusive dead mother?

Meanwhile, timid psychotherapist Ralph has made the mistake of opening a closet door, only to discover that his wife Sadie doesn't love him. Yet everyone else seems to have known all about their unhappy marriage - from her tweets. He decides to run away. But where can he go?

Each of them is hungry to make sense of the chaos in their lives. Miriam and Ralph's chance meeting in a local wood marks the beginning of a quirky and mutually supportive friendship. With Ralph's gentle help, Miriam begins to piece together her own truth. Because sometimes, the world can seem too much for just one person...

Wise, elegant and full of tender humour, "Whispers Through a Megaphone" explores how we live in our often deafening world - when all we need to connect with ourselves and others is a bit of silence.

Rachel Elliott is a writer and psychotherapist. She has worked in arts and technology journalism and her writing has featured in a variety of publications, from digital arts magazines to the "French Literary Review". She has also been shortlisted for a number of short story and novel competitions in the UK and the US. Rachel was born in Suffolk, and now lives in Bath. "Whispers Through a Megaphone" is her first novel.