Stolen Summers by Anne Goodwin - #BookReview

 

Not all the nuns were cruel. Some of the younger ones would address the girls kindly if Mother Superior were out of earshot. So Matilda counted her blessings when Sister Bernadette slipped onto the seat beside her in the taxicab, while a sombre man with a box-shaped head took the passenger seat at the front. He resembled a tradesman in his white cotton coat worn over an ordinary jacket and trousers; Matilda assumed the nuns had offered him a lift out of charity. She wasn't introduced.

Although still sore down below, she held herself erect with her hands folded in her lap. She had dressed for hopefulness that morning in the polka-dot dress her brother favoured; her wool coat with the missing button lay with her suitcase in the boot.

***

Stolen Summers: A heartbreaking tale of betrayal, confinement and dreams of escape.

All she has left is her sanity. Will the asylum take that from her too?

In 1939, Matilda is admitted to Ghyllside hospital, cut off from family and friends. Not quite twenty, and forced to give up her baby for adoption, she feels battered by the cruel regime. Yet she finds a surprising ally in rough-edged Doris, who risks harsh punishments to help her reach out to the brother she left behind.

Twenty-five years later, the rules have relaxed, and the women are free to leave. How will they cope in a world transformed in their absence? Do greater dangers await them outside?

The poignant prequel to Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home is a tragic yet tender story of a woman robbed of her future who summons the strength to survive.

***

This novella is a prequel to the novel, Matilda Windsor is Coming Home, which I read at the end of last year. Indeed, it was amongst my top ten reads for 2021 and it is one of those books which has stayed with me. The main character, Matty, is not one to be easily forgotten and so I was delighted when the author asked me if I would like to read the recently released prequel.

I am sure you can imagine I positively jumped at the opportunity and I have very much enjoyed spending more time with Matty and becoming acquainted more closely with her back story.

It is beautifully written, and the author demonstrates skill in the portrayal of her characters. Matty, and those around her, leap off the page and are utterly believable.

In so many ways it is a heartbreaking story and sadly, not an unusual one for the time in which it was set. However, it is not a depressing book to read but one which allows the reader a glimpse into the system as it was in 1939 when Matty was first institutionalised. It demonstrates the trauma of being committed to a mental asylum, and the treatment that she received there, and how it led an ordinary and sane girl to mentally unravel.

I highly recommend this book and if you have not already read Matilda Windsor is Coming Home then I strongly urge you to do so. If you would like to read my review you can do so by clicking here.

ISBN: 978 1739145002 

Publisher: Annectodal Press

Formats: e-book and paperback

No. of Pages: 151 (paperback)

About the Author:

Anne Goodwin’s drive to understand what makes people tick led to a career in clinical psychology. That same curiosity now powers her fiction.

Anne writes about the darkness that haunts her and is wary of artificial light. She makes stuff up to tell the truth about adversity, creating characters to care about and stories to make you think. She explores identity, mental health and social justice with compassion, humour and hope. 

An award-winning short-story writer, she has published three novels and a short story collection with small independent press, Inspired Quill. Her debut novel, Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize. 

Away from her desk, Anne guides book-loving walkers through the Derbyshire landscape that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.

Subscribers to her newsletter can download a free e-book of award-winning short stories.

(all bio info, photos and ARC of the book courtesy of the author.)