The year is 1887. In a decaying country house Mary Ann Sate, an elderly maid servant, nurses Mr Cottrell, a man she knew well in her youth. Mr Cottrell does not have long to live and so asks Mary Ann to write down the story of his brother, Ned, who fought for The People’s Charter and for improved wages in the textile mills of the Stroud Valleys.
But as soon as Mary Ann begins to write, anger takes control of her pen. Which story should she write? Maybe it is time for the truth about the Cottrell brothers to be told. As Mary Ann unravels the knots of the past, she comes to see how her love for the brothers destroyed the life she might have had.
Should she now avenge the dead? Or can the mere power of her faltering pen enable her to reclaim her own truth?
In this astonishing return to fiction, the award-winning Stroud based Alice Jolly gives voice to the silenced women of the past. Mary Ann Sate, Imbecile is out now via Unbound and in conjunction with the release we have obtained an exclusive extract which you can read by clicking the button below:
Get a signed copy at the book launch which takes place at Stroud Valley Artspace on Thurs 28th June at 7pm. All welcome but please email mountvernonstroud@gmail.com to let Alice know you are coming!