Sexual Discovery and Nursing in 60s England

Set against a background of nursing, Masked fully captures the atmosphere of this iconic time. Change, manipulation, confusion and abuse are countered by recovery, rescue, loyalty and love, in this heartening tale of two intertwined families. It is a brilliant and insightful tale of love, nursing and family issues. 

The intertwined families are - a mother and her daughter (M1 and D1), and a father, mother and daughter (F2, M2 and D2). Mother 1 becomes intertwined with Father 2, and Daughters 1 and 2 embark on a lesbian relationship (eventually) while Mother 2 attempts to murder Father 2. Yes, the plot sounds complicated, but it isn’t really. 

It is in many ways a simple love story, set against a nursing background. But in other ways it is so much more – it is an exploration of gender politics and emerging sexuality in the 1960s and 1970s.  It is about the confusion of teens and the manipulation of a narcissistic parent. It is also about a baby girl who doesn’t seem to be developing as she should and the importance of appearance for many women like M2. Her pamper salon experiences are almost grotesque in their descriptions of women gossiping and preening themselves. 

It’s rich in conversation, rather than passages of description. It’s full of well-rounded and strong characters, and of a few terrifying situations – mainly at the hands of M2 and her attempted murder of her husband and attack on her daughter. 

We hope you’ll enjoy reading ‘Masked’. It is available free on Kindle Unlimited, so what have you got to lose? 

'The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of.’ Blaise Pascal. 

The author says,
 
"In my novel, ‘Masked’, which is not autobiographical, but which has certain elements of my own experiences, I have tried to explore the often equivocal and ambiguous nature of relationships within and outside family, friends and even within our very selves. We are the wearers and bearers of many masks. We lie, we pose, and we present to others what we imagine they wish to see in us. 
To an extent we are moulded and masked by others, by circumstances beyond our control and by societal and others’ expectations. Very early in life, we may start to internalise distortions of our, as it were, ‘purer’ selves. We begin to be estranged by these masks from our own potential Being. Appearance mattered! 
The nursing profession at the time the novel is set shows, I hope, the rigid hierarchical structure, with its military heritage, albeit admirable in some ways, and its robotic unquestioning ‘teamwork’. To strip away the mask(s) needed courage and strength, particularly concerning love outside the, then, marital norm, sexual desire outside that same set of values, that ‘norm’ (what the hell is that?). It took insight, self-respect and determination. It still does."

Published by Words Are Life. Do support independent publishers!

"Didn't want to end it, especially as it finished on a new beginning like all the best books do. Tell Pat to write a sequel of all the characters 40 years on."

- HD

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