In The End the Beginning

<p>Alice falls in love with rakish Harry at too young an age. When the inevitable pregnancy follows they find themselves in a precarious position. Harry expects to get on with whatever he wants job or no job and for Alice to bear the burden of making ends meet and a rapidly expanding family.</p><p>She battles to hold it together and to hold on to her family. Something has to give - in the end it is her mind. But this is pre and post-war Britain where Harry's carrying on is normalised but Alice - sensitive and artistic of temperament - has her inability to cope medicalised. She is consigned to institutions away from the public gaze and subject to experimental medical intervention.</p><p>She is strong she is a survivor but is it all too much?</p><p>Based on her mother's true story Mary Steele brings people and their history to life with her poetic and evocative writing.</p>