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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

Women’s historical oppression: The Pull of the Stars & The Spinning House Affair

5/6/2021

10 Comments

 
These two historical novels, set near the dawn of the twentieth century, illustrate how appallingly women’s freedoms, even – or especially – over custody of their own bodies, have been controlled by men. Both stories take place in or around institutions: the first an Irish hospital battling the pandemic; the second a university battling the ordinary citizens of an English town.

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The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue

Think we’ve had it bad lately? The influenza pandemic of 1918 killed more people than the First World War. The front-line, without vaccines or ventilators, was as harrowing as the trenches. In an Ireland still colonised by Britain, and equally oppressed by the Catholic church, health staff must also battle poverty, malnutrition and ignorance, amid political turmoil, civil and international war. This is the backdrop of Emma Donoghue’s touching novel about the joys, hazards and horrors of childbirth in Dublin a century ago.
 
Julia Power is proud of her nursing skills and qualifications but, on the eve of her thirtieth birthday, she hadn’t expected to have sole charge of a makeshift three-bedded ward for expectant mothers who also have flu. But she rises to the occasion, with the help of a young volunteer.
 
At first, Julia is unimpressed by Bridie Sweeney who, in her early twenties, seems to know so little about the world. But, although, due to growing up in an abusive church-run orphanage, she’s malnourished and uneducated, she’s bright, keen and quick to learn. As the crisis brings the two women closer, Julia discovers the dark secrets of the country she loves.
 
Another woman, Dr Kathleen Lynn (based on a real person) opens Julia’s eyes to Irish nationalism, when she’s forced to consider why a humanitarian like Dr Lynn should take up arms. Hitherto loyal to Britain, and to her shell-shocked brother with whom she lives, the apparent contradiction forces Julia to question her beliefs. Thanks to Bridie, and the three women under their care – a wealthy Protestant; a ‘fallen woman’ from a (now notorious) mother and baby home; and a terrified teenager who thinks she’ll birth her baby through her navel – Julia must also reassess her attitudes to authority, trauma, sexuality and motherhood.
 
Although at times the author’s research takes priority over story, I found it so interesting, I can’t complain. The stakes are so high – literally a matter of life and death – the tension so palpable, I stayed up late to finish the book. However, anyone who is currently pregnant, or has experienced a traumatic birth, might want to read it at another time.
 
Overall, it’s an accessible and engaging story about a crucial point in Irish history and (the sometimes unnecessary) hardships of women’s lives. It was published by Picador last year, and I did try to read a PDF copy kindly sent to me by a publicist at the time, but I’m glad I waited to buy the paperback. It’s another contender for my favourite reads of the year.


The Spinning House Affair by Jane Taylor

There are bound to be tensions between town and gown when a university dwarfs the place where it’s situated. But, until the publisher, Thunderpoint, sent me a copy of this recently published historical novel, I hadn’t realised how far that could go. While bringing employment to 1890s Cambridge, the university severely restricted women’s freedom to go about their business as they chose.
 
To protect the morality of the male students, the serving girls and suchlike who made their education possible were closely policed. The merest suspicion of unauthorised association could send the woman to the lockhouse, with no right of appeal. Rose Whipple, around whom this novel revolves, is initially incarcerated when she automatically raises her hand to wave back at an undergraduate who is actually waving at a friend.
 
The author spreads her net wide to encompass not only Rose’s tragedy, but the friends and family of the man who unwittingly initiates it, and the newspapermen who campaign against the injustice. While the different perspectives make the novel intellectually interesting, I found it somewhat distancing emotionally.


I was too preoccupied last week with a certain book launch to produce a 99-word story in response to Charli’s flash fiction challenge. I’m not beating myself up about it, but I was disappointed, as I have shown up every week for months, probably years. But I’m back with a vengeance this week with a very dark story on the theme of these two novels and mine.

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Obedience training
 
He had her walk to heel initially, on a two-metre leash. As she earned his trust, he gave her leeway, to trot ahead to chase some shiny bauble or pause to sniff a flower. But he never took her out without a taser and packet of chocolate-drop rewards. He thought he’d tamed her until, unfettered in woodland, she ran. It took two days, three men and four bullets to rein her in. Now his wife hobbles happily around home and hearth, except when shrapnel pains her. Then he blames himself for pushing her beyond the boundaries of her sex.
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.
10 Comments
mrmacrum link
6/6/2021 03:11:37 am

Whew! Disturbing and delightful. I really like it.

Reply
Anne Goodwin
6/6/2021 11:07:26 am

Glad you liked it. Wen a bit darker than I expected.

Reply
Norah Colvin
6/6/2021 11:51:40 am

Oh my, that's a dark flash. Perhaps a fitting conclusion to your reviews. We need to be finished with this oppression once and for all.

Reply
Anne Goodwin
10/6/2021 08:04:45 pm

I wish, but will we?

Reply
Liz Husebye Hartmann link
7/6/2021 05:16:52 pm

Oy! When I saw where you were going with this one, the dread grew until confirmation.
Well done.

Reply
Anne Goodwin
10/6/2021 08:06:32 pm

Thanks, I like being congratulated for being horrible.

Reply
Charli Mills
11/6/2021 03:20:43 am

Anne, you get a pass for publication time! I've so anticipated this book of yours. I hope the launch is doing well. Your flash gathers up the dark themes that dog women and deliver a sharp analogy. Spot on!

Reply
Anne Goodwin
11/6/2021 12:38:06 pm

Thanks, Charli, I knew you'd let me off '-)

Reply
Rebecca Glaessner link
11/6/2021 06:04:13 am

Wow. I did not see that coming. I read the flash first via the Ranch collection and it floored me. Well done. Thoroughly enjoyable in its darkness and hard-hitting themes.

Reply
Anne Goodwin
11/6/2021 12:39:08 pm

Thanks, Rebecca, I confess I didn't see it coming either!

Reply

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