Liz Trenow - The Forgotten Seamstress

Published by AVON

A Division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2013

Copyright © Liz Trenow 2013

Cover design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2020

Cover photograph © Mary Wethey/Trevillion Images

Liz Trenow asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780007480845

Ebook Edition © February 2020 ISBN: 9780007480852

Version: 2020-02-14

To David who has, as ever, been a constant source of love and support.

Contents

Cover

Title Page LIZ TRENOW The Forgotten Seamstress

Copyright Copyright Published by AVON A Division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2013 Copyright © Liz Trenow 2013 Cover design © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2020 Cover photograph © Mary Wethey/Trevillion Images Liz Trenow asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library. This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. Source ISBN: 9780007480845 Ebook Edition © February 2020 ISBN: 9780007480852 Version: 2020-02-14

Dedication Dedication To David who has, as ever, been a constant source of love and support.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Book Club Q&A for The Forgotten Seamstress , by Liz Trenow

Footnote

Acknowledgements

Keep Reading …

About the Author

Also by Liz Trenow

About the Publisher

Patchwork (noun):

1 Work consisting of pieces of cloth of various colours and shapes sewn together.

2 Something composed of miscellaneous or incongruous parts.

Quilt (verb):

1 To fill, pad or line (something) like a quilt.

2 To stitch, sew or cover (something) with lines or patterns resembling those used in quilts.

3 To fasten layers of fabric and/or padding in this way.

From the Medical Superintendent

Helena Hall, 2nd April 1970

Dear Dr Meadows

Thank you for your letter in reference to your student Patricia Morton. We are always keen to support the work of bona fide research projects, and will certainly endeavour to provide her with the contacts and other information that she seeks.

However, before giving permission we would like your personal written confirmation that she will observe the following:

All interviews must be carried out anonymously, and no information which might identify the patient or staff member must appear in the final publication.

No patient may be interviewed without their prior informed consent, supported by their psychiatric consultant and, where appropriate, a key family member.

Any member of staff must seek the prior written consent of their senior manager.

In regards to former staff members and patients, Eastchester Mental Health Service has no jurisdiction, but we would seek your reassurance that Ms Morton will observe the same conditions of confidentiality as above. I am sure she will appreciate that, in terms of research data, existing and former patients may not be the most reliable of informants. Most, if not all, will have suffered from lifelong illnesses which may lead them to hold beliefs and opinions which have no actuality or validity in real life.

You will understand that while patient confidentiality precludes us from giving information about individuals, I would be grateful for the opportunity to provide Ms Morton with guidance in relation to specific interviewees. Please ask her to contact my secretary on the number above, to arrange an appointment at the earliest possible opportunity.

With kindest regards

Dr John Watts, Medical Superintendent,

Helena Hall Hospital, Eastchester

Cassette 1, side 1, April 1970

They told me you want to know my story, why I ended up in this place? Well, there’s a rum question and I’ve been asking it meself for the past fifty years. I can tell you how I got here, and what happened to me. But why? Now that’s a mystery.

It’s a deep, smoke-filled voice, with a strong East London accent, and you can hear the smile in it, as if she’s about to break into an asthmatic chuckle at any moment.

They’ve probably warned you about me, told you my story is all made up. At least that’s what those trick-cyclists would have you believe.

Another voice, with the carefully-modulated, well-educated tones of a younger woman: ‘Trick-cyclist?’

Sorry, dearie, it’s what we used to call the psychiatrist, in them old days. Any roads, he used to say that telling tales – he calls them fantasies – is a response to some ‘ungratified need’.

‘You’re not wrong there,’ I’d tell him, giving him the old eyelash flutter. ‘I’ve been stuck in here most of me life, I’ve got plenty of ungratified needs.’ But he’d just smile and say, ‘You need to concentrate on getting better, my dear, look forward, not backwards all the time. Repeating and reinforcing these fantasies is just regressive behaviour, and it really must stop, or we’ll never get you out of here.’

Well, you can take it or leave it, dearie, but I have to tell it.