God, the Devil and Me

A chronicle of lived experience, this astonishing book is a biographical exposé, its ultimate theme the great battle of the last days, the final war between God and the Devil. Drawing on her journals, Valerie tells how, at the height of a successful career as writer and actress, she suddenly disappeared.

An innocent seeker of God, unaware of the pitfalls, or the unrelenting opposition of the devil, Valerie had strayed into an Indian sect where its female guru, learning of her vocation to ‘write a book for God’, feared her as a potential whistleblower. Vowing to 'stop Valerie writing', she attacks her with magic and occult powers. Now, the writing of the book itself becomes the battlefield. Converted to Catholicism and escaped to France, Valerie is helped by an exorcist. And God, giving her the added vocation to pray for souls lost in sects, comes to her in the Eucharist, fighting alongside, granting moments lifted into bliss and finally breaking the bondage. Thirty years on, the past erased, experience with Valerie the inside story.

Born 08.11.1945 in South Shields, Co. Durham, Valerie studied Drama & Theatre Arts and English Lit at Birmingham University before becoming an actress working in repertory theatre, radio and TV, then turning to writing for radio and TV (she was one of the first writers on EastEnders) and later as a novelist (see below). She was on the executive of the Writers' Guild, chairing its Film and TV Committee and was part of a campaign to protect children’s TV. She later joined the TV Committee of the Society of Authors.
Valerie married in 1969; and it was at this time that she received a vocation: 'One day you will write a book for God'. 11 years later she divorced and moved to London, but still had no idea what the book might be. Her interests then were volunteering as a Samaritan and running a human rights campaign.
Her quest for God then took her into the sect of Sahaja Yoga, and it was only after she and her new husband got out that Valerie's interests returned to public life. But the return to 'normal' life was not easy. The guru was determined to block Valerie’s career and stop her writing. Only when Valerie and her husband converted to Roman Catholicism, did a new path give them hope of escape from Sahaja Yoga’s actual and psychic harassment. But first Valerie had to sacrifice her career, exchanging it for a vocation of prayer. In 1998, they disappeared, cutting all ties. In France they found solace, working on their new house and garden. And later, they took a university diploma in theological studies. And as Valerie's husband was ordained a deacon, slowly everything they had done in the sect was erased. And the book finally emerged. Naturalised in 2019, Valerie and her husband now have dual nationality and have fully integrated into French life. This is the book.