The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant
A half-forgotten family story provided the inspiration for this novel about an impossible love story, difficult choices, and their consequences, and a woman who rises from the ashes of her life.
When I was about nine or ten, my family lived in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, in a small-ish town not far from Seattle. My mother would often take us to visit a ruined, abandoned mental asylum called Steilacoom – she had a ghoulish fascination with such places and I suppose it was her idea of an outing for myself and my younger brother and sister. We still have an album from the 1970s of faded Polaroids that show us peering through the windows and framed against the graffiti that covered the outside of the buildings.
The eeriness of the ruined rooms, the broken furniture, the seemingly random objects left behind, and the air of desolation and menace within those walls are something that has stayed with me throughout my life.
A couple of years ago I came across a newspaper report that gave details of things left behind in an old asylum in England, suitcases full of prosaic belongings of patients who were never to take them home again. There was something very moving about these personal items that belonged to those who had never left.
I was also quite horrified to learn that in England, until the early 1950s, a woman could be committed to an asylum on the say-so of her father or husband without a doctor having even examined her.
From this, the grain of an idea for a story began to brew in my imagination.
Additionally, when I was in my teens, my mother told me the story of my great-grandmother, who was confined to a mental hospital in England with post-natal depression (my grandfather was the youngest of seven or eight children I believe so it is hardly surprising that she suffered a breakdown) when my grandfather was a small boy. She said that my grandfather almost never spoke of it, and it was a source of great shame to the family. He had gone to visit her with his father once, hoping to collect her and bring her home, but it was obvious that she was in no state to leave and he never forgot seeing her like that.
My mother told me that when she was playing Ophelia in a college production of Hamlet, my grandfather became so distressed by her portrayal of a woman gone mad that he had to rush from the theatre.
My mother is no longer alive, and so I am unable to ask her more questions, but in the course of writing this novel I spoke to my uncle, who was able to add a few details about my great-grandmother, including her name: Phoebe. He also told me that she remained there for the rest of her life, dying of breast cancer when she was much older. While the reasons for her continued stay in the asylum have been lost in time, her life strikes me as utterly tragic.
These things gave me the starting point for the novel.
However, I had no wish to make my character, Esther’s, story quite so tragic, and I wanted for her to overcome the tragedy that befell her early in her marriage. In the course of my research, I came across a book called The Summit of her Ambition. The Spirited Life of Marie Byles by Anne McLeod, and it provided me with such a wonderful example of an adventurous, intelligent woman (she was also the first woman to practise law in New South Wales, the co-founder of the Australian Buddhist Society, an environmentalist and a staunch advocate for women’s rights). I also read of the exploits of three intrepid Englishwomen, Anne Davies, Eve Sims and Antonia Deacock, who drove 16,000 miles from London to India and back, and who trekked for 300 miles to remote Tibet in 1958. I was inspired by their stories and hope I have managed to instill something of their collective indomitable spirit in the character of Esther.
The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant is published by Hachette Australia. US publication by William Morrow and UK publication by Orion Books are scheduled for Spring 2020.
—
Kayte Nunn is a former book and magazine editor, and the author of two contemporary novels, and the best-selling The Botanist’s Daughter, a historical mystery set in Cornwall, Chile and Australia, which has been published in seven countries. She lives in northern NSW, Australia.
Facebook: Kayte Nunn Author
Twitter: @kaytenunn
THE FORGOTTEN LETTERS OF ESTHER DURRANT
A cache of unsent love letters from the 1950s is found in a suitcase on a remote island in this mysterious love story by top ten bestselling author, Kayte Nunn
1951. Esther Durrant, a young mother, is committed to an isolated mental asylum by her husband. Run by a pioneering psychiatrist, the hospital is at first Esther’s prison but soon becomes her refuge.
2018. Free-spirited marine scientist Rachel Parker embarks on a research posting in the Isles of Scilly, off the Cornish coast. When a violent storm forces her to take shelter on a far-flung island, she discovers a collection of hidden love letters. Captivated by their passion and tenderness, Rachel determines to track down the intended recipient.
Meanwhile, in London, Eve is helping her grandmother, a renowned mountaineer, write her memoirs. When she is contacted by Rachel, it sets in motion a chain of events that threatens to reveal secrets kept buried for more than sixty years.
The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant is a deeply atmospheric, resonant novel that charts the heart’s wild places, choices and consequences. If you love Elizabeth Gilbert and Kate Morton you will devour this book.
Praise for the bestselling The Botanist’s Daughter:
‘Two incredibly likeable, headstrong heroines . . . watching them flourish is captivating. With these dynamic women at the helm, Kayte weaves a clever tale of plant treachery involving exotic and perilous encounters in Chile, plus lashings of gentle romance. Compelling storytelling’ The Australian Women’s Weekly
‘I loved The Botanist’s Daughter. I was transported to the 1880s and Chile, to contemporary Sydney and Kew. A gripping read’ JOY RHOADES, author of The Woolgrower’s Companion
‘The riveting story of two women, divided by a century in time, but united by their quest to discover a rare and dangerous flower. Fast-moving and full of surprises, The Botanist’s Daughter brings the exotic world of 19th-century Chile thrillingly to life’ KATE FORSYTH
Category: On Writing
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
