St. Anne's of the Locks

St. Anne's of the Locks is set in the Midlands in the early part of the twentieth century, against the backdrop of the First World War and its aftermath. The title comes from the name of a mental asylum, to which were admitted, in addition to the mentally ill, various social misfits, troublesome nonconformists, unmarried pregnant women and women who were suffering from postnatal depression, domestic violence, diseases associated with poverty and malnourishment. The main character is one such woman, Mary Brownhill, a country girl who goes into service with a family of industrialists. She is a free spirit who aspires to better things and has her mind opened up through reading. Her employer, James Fawcett, who is inspired by radical political views, at odds with his social background, encourages her in this and the two fall in love. What follows is not just the thwarting of this relationship as a result of the interplay of history, war, class, gender, social mores and chance, but also the impact on other people in their family and social circles. From the confines of St. Anne's, Mary's voice, like that of the other women incarcerated there, calls out for her story to be told. Yet the novel is equally concerned with the fate of James, who is taken from the battlefields of France to recuperate at St. Anne's. Faced with the perversity of what has happened to him and Mary, he first attempts to take refuge in the gold mines of South Africa, before returning for the final d nouement of the story.