One Old Lady

Paul Bailey's first novel, 'At the Jerusalem', led to wide acclaim from the critics of a new writer of major importance. Dr. Ralph Emery, a psychiatrist, at Brookwood Hospital, Woking, who specialises in the problems of the elderly, reviews this story of This is not an entertaining book. It is not meant to be. Any pleasure in reading it is entirely derived from its literary merit and masterly use of dialogue. In substance the novel is a source of distress, rather than entertainment. 'At the Jerusalem' is a statement without a moral. It relates concisely and convincingly, but without sentiment, what happens to an elderly widow, who, having lost her daughter, comes to live with a step-daughter-in-law, is placed in a Home (the best they could find) and is finally transferred to a mental hospital. The relevant points from Mrs. Gadney's life history are sketched in as occasion arises, as flashback [Memories recalled during conversations with other inmates of the Home. Part II of the novel describes in more detail her short spell with her step-son and daughter-in-law, Thelma.