Why a Booktrail?
1951, 2018: A forgotten woman…A cache of unsent love letters…A dangerous secret…
The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant
What you need to know before your trail
1951. Esther Durrant, a young mother, is committed to an isolated mental asylum by her husband. Run by a pioneering psychiatrist, the hospital is at first Esther’s prison but soon becomes her refuge.
2018. When free-spirited marine scientist Rachel Parker is forced to take shelter on a far-flung island off the Cornish Coast during a research posting, she discovers a collection of hidden love letters. Captivated by their passion and tenderness, Rachel is determined to find the intended recipient.
Meanwhile, in London, Eve is helping her grandmother, a renowned mountaineer, write her memoirs. When she is contacted by Rachel, it sets in motion a chain of events that threatens to reveal secrets kept buried for more than sixty years.
Travel Guide
Travel BookTrail style to the Isles of Sicily with the forgotten letters of Esther Durrant
The setting for the asylum in the story. There is beauty and fear of these islands however. There is a landscape which is wild and raw, isolated yet calm.A good place for sanctuary or one to become lost and separated from the world.
There is sadly more truth to this story than you might not care to believe. Women we learn in the author note could be committed to mental asylums by their spouse or father, without their permission – or even the official diagnosis of a doctor’s examination.
‘Esther was dumbfounded. He’d left her there? She’d heard of husbands committing their wives to insane asylums – for she was under no illusion now, that is what this godforsaken place must surely be – but had never imagined John would do such a thing to her, despite everything that had happened. She’d always believed that he loved her; depended on his kindness. Would he have really thought this the most appropriate course of action?’
Kayte Nunn’s own great grandmother’s experience in a mental asylum and the fact she was placed there for postal natal depression just beggars belief. This authors brave story opens up the likelihood that so many more women must have suffered the same fate – for even lesser ‘crimes’
‘They must have taken Samuel away from me. I still don’t know where he went. I never saw him again, never even got to say goodbye.’
1950s
You will see and ‘experience’ for yourself the social attitudes and daily habits and opinions of the 1950s . The sections of the book set in 1951 in particular reveal a lot about the women at the time.
BookTrail Boarding Pass: The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant
Destination/location: Cornwall,Scilly Isles, South Pacific Ocean Author/guide: Kayte Nunn Departure Time: 1951, 2018
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