"Phoenix in a Bottle"

By; Lilian and Murdoch MacDonald

"Phoenix in a Bottle" is the true story of Lilian and Murdoch MacDonald, two former alcoholics from Ayrshire in Scotland who, eleven years ago, were down and out, sleeping rough in the streets and parks of Cambridge, the university town where a quarter of a century previously Murdoch had studied as an undergraduate for his degree in English Literature at Magdalene College.

Lilian and Murdoch tried Alcoholics Anonymous many times, but eventually finally rejected its outdated and doctrinaire dogma that alcoholism is an incurable illness or disease, and that the only hope for the alcoholic is lifelong sobriety.

"Alcoholism is not a disease," say Lilian and Murdoch. "It is a self-harming behaviour problem rooted in childhood, and if alcoholics are willing to identify and address their issues from the past, then there is no reason why they should not be able to rid themselves of their problem behaviour, even to the extent of being able to drink alcohol safely and responsibly again if and when they so wish."

"After all," Lilian and Murdoch point out, "lifelong sobriety is not recovery from alcohol. It is just treating the symptom rather than the underlying cause, and merely a damage-limitation exercise."

"Phoenix in a Bottle" by Lilian and Murdoch MacDonald is published by Melrose Books price 16.99. ISBN: 1905226144.

Eminent American psychologist and addiction expert Dr Stanton Peele PhD commented: "Phoenix in a Bottle is a modern version of The Days of Wine and Roses, and tells the true story of how two people who entered a period of desperate drinking stayed with one another in a close loving relationship, and emerged from their alcoholism able to drink responsibly again.

"Both a wonderful love story and a challenge to conventional wisdom about how people can recover from drinking problems, Phoenix in a Bottle gives people hope, and helps them to confront their own demons - alcohol or otherwise."