#BlogTour Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home by Anne Goodwin #MatildaWindsorIsComingHome @Annecdotist @InspiredQuill @RandomTTours #BookReview

 

Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home by Anne Goodwin was published by Inspired Quill on 29th May 2021. Many thanks to the publisher for the review copy and Anne Cater of Random Things Tours for the blog tour invitation. 

In the dying days of the old asylums, three paths intersect.

Henry was only a boy when he waved goodbye to his glamorous grown-up sister; approaching sixty, his life is still on hold as he awaits her return.

As a high-society hostess renowned for her recitals, Matty’s burden weighs heavily upon her, but she bears it with fortitude and grace.

Janice, a young social worker, wants to set the world to rights, but she needs to tackle challenges closer to home.

A brother and sister separated by decades of deceit. Will truth prevail over bigotry, or will the buried secret keep family apart?

In this, her third novel, Anne Goodwin has drawn on the language and landscapes of her native Cumbria and on the culture of long-stay psychiatric hospitals where she began her clinical psychology career.

Find out more on Matilda Windsor’s webpage

My Thoughts:

Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home is an incredibly poignant and thought provoking read. I actually found that it angered me in places when I thought about the way things used to be.

 

The story focuses on Matty who has spent  most of her life institutionalised in a long stay psychiatric hospital. The sections featuring Matty herself were an absolute delight, full of warmth and wit. I found her character to be well rounded and endearing. 

 

 The reader also gets to learn a little about Henry who is the brother of Matty. I found it moving to think that he had never given up on her going home. She had somebody in her corner, rooting for her for her whole life. Especially in what must have been a lonely and isolating situation. 

 

I adored Janice in every way. She was headstrong with a can do attitude who was not afraid to stand up and use her voice to speak up for the rights of her patients. She arrives at a time when things are changing and the long stay institutions are hopefully going to become a part of the past. She shows a great deal of care and compassion. 

 

The author touches on social commentary and manages to provide an excellent sense of time and place. The authors experience in the industry shines through and makes for a knowledgable read that I found endearing and life affirming. 

 

I look forward to reading more in the future. 

About the Author:

Anne Goodwin grew up in the non-touristy part of Cumbria, where this novel is set. When she went to university ninety miles away, no-one could understand her accent. After nine years of studying, her first post on qualifying as a clinical psychologist was in a long-stay psychiatric hospital in the process of closing.

Her debut novel, Sugar and Snails, about a woman who has kept her past identity a secret for thirty years, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize. Her second novel, Underneath, about a man who keeps a woman captive in his cellar, was published in 2017. Her short story collection, Becoming Someone, on the theme of identity, was published in November 2018. Subscribers to her newsletter can download a free e-book of prize-winning short stories.

 

 Website: annegoodwin.weebly.com

Twitter @Annecdotist.

Please do have a look at the other stops on the blog tour.