Description With comic wit and formal skills Oddbeat charts the mental breakdown of a young woman. Exploring traumas from her childhood in her poetry, she addresses the stigma surrounding hearing voices and paranoia in poems like 'Oddbeat' and 'The Tiger'. The simplicity of her poems makes her illness easier to understand, while in uplifting poems such as 'Art Therapy' and 'Joined Together' she explores what can be done to improve this. Music and individual paintings inspire this collection as well, reflecting the poet's lifelong fascination with the arts. The collection also includes poems about nature and London landmarks. About the Author Victoria Oates is a freelance tutor who lives in south-west London. She has suffered from a psychotic illness for several years, and Oddbeat reflects on this experience. She has found medication to be vital in her recovery, while holistic treatments such as shiatsu and dance movement therapy have been helpful. Her first book was published earlier this year and is called 'The Golden Cage', an autobiographical novel about anorexia.