Story starters......

I was going to post this article from Philip Hensher on my main blog, where I had already posted on Sebastian Barry's The Secret Scripture, but when I came across it I was researching the use of mental institutions as a form of social control for the preparation of the book that will tell my mum's story. I read it and apart from being struck by the terrible injustice of it all, it also struck me that this, or a similiar story could have actually intiated the idea for Barry's novel in the first place - there are certainly many parallels - apart from the Irish history. It's stories like this that spur many writers into action - wanting to tell the story of people they've have never met, but they have found very moving. That's why newspapers are important to writers!! They're full of stories of silenced voices crying out to be brought back to life and in so doing highlighting wider social issues.