Walls of Silence

Walls of Silence took a lot of research. This novel stood on the shoulders of material I had gathered on shell-shock for a previous writing project. I added folders on the emergence of psychoanalysis, asylums in the 1920s, and the treatment & rehabilitation of those society considered mad. But total immersion in the grim subject of damaged minds was relieved by reading about subjects such as beekeeping, roses, herbal remedies, Gypsy lore, and village grocers’ shops. The topics I’ll be touching on here are equally eclectic.

1914 Cupid calls the tune. Ruth Wade

It’s a man’s world
Vintage medical field kit. Wellcome foundation.

Murder and medics
Historical fiction. Edwardian family. From Ruth Wade collection

The past in the present
Still from Wellcome film on shell-shock treatment in WW1

Shell-shock
1930's photo of Dare Partners motorcycle stunt act.

Some books you just have to grow into
A writer's influences. The making of novelist Ruth Wade / BK Duncan

The melting pot
1920's women. Mother reading to her children.

“It was as if every man you had ever danced with was dead.”