http://www.allaboutmalvernhills.com/the_water_doctors_daughters
Every now and again, you come across a book which completely takes over. All is ignored and nothing gets done until it’s read.
Yesterday I read one which did just that.
It all began, though, with a random post on Face book.
I’d spent a happy Saturday afternoon in Malvern, a town not far from me and one which I know well as I used to live and work there. After spending a fortune in Waitrose (I bought a few Christmas presents in my defence), Hubs and I stopped off in one of his favourite pubs. The Nag’s Head is one of those special places. It usually has at least fifteen or so real ales on hand pull (can you tell I’m married to a CAMRA member?), interesting ciders, does great food in its restaurant and best of all, if you’re recovering from some heavy duty shopping, has yummy free bar snacks. It also has a welcoming atmosphere with roaring fires, is dog friendly and the ideal place to while away some time.
It’s one of our favourite pubs. So much so, I felt the urge to share my pleasure with the good folk on Face book and posted a picture of the bar.
It prompted a conversation with a lovely lady called Pauline Conolly. Pauline, it transpires, lives in Sydney but knows Malvern well as she’s written a non-fiction book about the town: The Water Doctor’s Daughters, available as an e-read or in hardback. See above links.
Back in the day, I taught a local history module about Malvern and its claim to fame as a Victorian health spa. The children loved seeing cartoons featuring some of the more alarming hydrotherapy treatments – the Sitz bath, the wrapping of a patient in cold, wet sheets and the ‘descending douche’. I left out details of the ‘ascending douche’ but you can draw your own conclusions about what that entailed! They liked hearing about the donkeys, which ferried patients about the steep Malvern Hills too.
When I found out Pauline’s book featured the family of one of the most famous water cure doctors – a Dr James Loftus Marsden – I knew I had to read it. I’m so glad I did.
It’s a completely engrossing read. A detailed account of a brood of motherless children and the dereliction of care by those in charge of their well-being. At the book’s core is a court case, the stain of which tainted the lives of the surviving children long into their old age. It sounds grim – and it is – but it’s also a fascinating account of the very different mores of a time not so very long ago and features some extraordinary characters.
If you enjoyed The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, you’ll love it.
One of the children, Lucy Marsden, is buried in the graveyard of Malvern Priory, near the better-known grave of Charles Darwin’s daughter. As I live not too far away, I intend to put flowers on the grave of a little girl who was so cruelly neglected in her short life.
Love,
Georgia x
Thanks for your moving response to my story about the Marsden children, Georgia. They deserve to be remembered and honoured. Lucy’s grave is very sad, but at least she was laid to rest with her mother. xx
You’re very welcome Pauline. I’m telling everyone I know to read it!