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Welcome

I started this blog in 2013 to share my reflections on reading, writing and psychology, along with my journey to become a published novelist.​  I soon graduated to about twenty book reviews a month and a weekly 99-word story. Ten years later, I've transferred my writing / publication updates to my new website but will continue here with occasional reviews and flash fiction pieces, and maybe the odd personal post.

ANNE GOODWIN'S WRITING NEWS

Return to Wildfell: The Woman Who Ran by Sam Baker

12/5/2016

9 Comments

 

After escaping a fire in Paris that might have killed her bullying estranged husband, Helen rents a large and dilapidated house on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, hoping for peace and seclusion. But she hasn’t bargained for the curiosity of the villagers, including Gil, a recently-retired journalist with time on his hands. After an Internet search throws up some disturbing information, Gil persuades Helen to tell him her story, which unfolds in a six-hour overnight conversation, reminding me of the mammoth therapy session in The Other Side of You.
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Helen is certainly in need of therapy, suffering from night terrors, flashbacks and gaps in her memory attributed to PTSD, traumatised by both her abusive marriage and her work. Somewhat reminiscent of Peter in Fractured, Helen has earned her living making a pictorial record of other people’s tragedies (p142):

They said war reporters were the surgeons of the newspaper world. It was the adrenaline surge of having other people’s life stories in your hands, she supposed. Her response had always been the same: if reporters were the surgeons, then photographers were the snipers; high maintenance, aloof, riddled by doubt and driven by certainty.

I was drawn to this novel by a Guardian review by Samantha Ellis and by its association with my favourite Brontë novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. I was so sure I’d like it, I chose it for my book club read. As I turned the pages, I wondered what the hell a group of psychology and psychotherapy types who enjoy understated literary fiction with complex characters, would find to say about a middle-of-the-road plot with competent, but not inspiring, prose (and an irritating tendency towards single-sentence paragraphs). It turned out that this was probably the book we’ve agreed on most, inspiring most members to read The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.

One of the things I liked in Anne Brontë’s novel was how Helen’s husband had punished her through his corruption of their son. This strand is much weaker in The Woman Who Ran, where the boy appears as the ghostly presence of an Iraqi child who was the subject of one of Helen’s prize-winning photographs, although her husband’s envy of her symbolic child (as in her work) was extremely convincing.

I received my copy of The Woman Who Ran from the publishers, HarperCollins.

I enjoyed identifying the setting; if you know Yorkshire it’s not far from the asylum in The Ballroom, nor is it far from one of the finest examples of limestone pavement you could hope to see. With today’s (yes, I’m quick off the mark!) flash fiction prompt on the subject of erosion, I ought to have had a bash at describing the topography.

Above Malham Cove

After fifteen years, I was thrilled to bump into Jennifer. “You haven’t changed a bit!” As soon as the words left my mouth, I regretted them. She was still the happy-go-lucky woman I remembered. She couldn’t say the same for me.

Eric placed a proprietary hand on my backside. “Come on! We’ll be late.”

What could we be late for? We were on a weekend break. With a wooden smile, I made my apologies. At least Jenny couldn’t see the bruises beneath my clothes. The me she’d known would not have been cowed by any man.


As you see, I’ve chickened out (or played to my strengths) and let the title speak for the geology, while exploring the erosion of character and confidence in an echo of Helen’s experience in The Woman Who Ran. As the catalyst for the narrator’s discovery of her sorry situation, I’ve drawn on an unexpected, though in real life entirely pleasant, encounter with a woman I used to work with rather longer than fifteen years ago at a library event I did for my debut novel, Sugar and Snails, in Newcastle last week. Though Charli didn’t quite manage to read my mind and give me a squirrel last week, I do enjoy the way we can make disparate bits of our worlds join up.


Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
9 Comments
Linda Bowes
14/5/2016 07:25:17 am

Your latest post motivated me to purchase The Tenant of Wildfell Hall which I had never read.

Reply
Annecdotist
15/5/2016 11:29:10 am

Lovely to have you joining in the comments, Linda, and I hope you enjoy Wildfell .

Reply
Annecdotist
15/5/2016 11:33:21 am

Meant to add, I'll be interested in what you make of today's post smalltown fiction.

Charli Mills
14/5/2016 07:34:24 pm

Life's bits have a way of adding to the whole of a story on unexpected ways. It would be interesting to read and compare the familiar as well as the differences between the two novels. I like how the prompts can connect to something we experienced recently but haven't cataloged. Fiction can be an interesting mix of familiar moments in and something new that emerged. Terrific what you turned out in your flash fiction.

Reply
Annecdotist
15/5/2016 11:32:33 am

Yes, it's fascinating how those disparate bits connect to build up something unexpected, and that's only the experiences we notice. A lot more going on under the surface!
Really, I think the main thing Sam Baker took from Anne Brontë were the names, the pseudo-stalker Gilbert and the abusive marriage – listed here sounds a fair bit but it's a case of the hall being less than the sum of its parts.

Reply
Norah Colvin link
15/5/2016 06:29:15 am

Well your book club members seem to be united in their opinions of this book. Interesting they all turned to the other to read.
I enjoyed your flash. I don't like the sound of those bruises, and he obviously wasn't keen for her to share any more of her story. It is, sadly, reflective of the lives of far too many women. I like that you have taken the erosion of psychological health as your theme. I'll be taking to education, as usual. If I can keep my ideas together long enough!

Reply
Annecdotist
15/5/2016 11:36:07 am

Actually, one thing we didn't quite agree on is whether a woman like Helen, her own person in so many ways, would stay with such an abusive man. Sadly, it happens, although we'd need to know more about her background /childhood to ascertain whether there was something particular in her character that made her vulnerable in this way.

Reply
Irene Waters link
15/5/2016 11:54:43 am

I doubt I'll read The Woman who Ran but I may be tempted with the Bronte as I've not read it. Your flash was a perfect example of erosion and portrayed a sad situation that many women suffer.

Reply
Annecdotist
17/5/2016 03:01:18 pm

Thanks, Irene, and indeed sadly all too common.

Reply



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