Matrons and madams? So much promise…

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/05/2015 (4138 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The title of this book is intriguing: the juxtaposition of matrons, those stern nurses who control entire hospitals, with madams, women who control a house of other sorts. Unfortunately, beyond the title, there is not much to be intrigued by.

The premise of this novel by Sharon Johnston, the wife of Canada’s Governor General, is sweeping. Clara, a young British widow, moves to Lethbridge, Alta., after the First World War as soldiers return home with terrible wounds. A nurse, Clara takes over as the matron of the hospital, serving the wounded soldiers.

Lily is a school teacher from Nova Scotia, also widowed and living in Lethbridge. Her vocation changes from teacher to madam, as circumstances find her managing a brothel.

The two meet and start a clinic to treat the epidemic of venereal diseases brought back from the war by returning soldiers. In doing so they are challenged by conservative thinking of the city fathers, local politics and unions.

The problem with this book is not with its conception, but rather with its execution. It is poorly written, with stilted prose and underdeveloped characters. Johnston appears to have a list of historical events from that era that she methodically introduces before moving on to the next. The storytelling is like talking to one’s loquacious grandmother who wanders from subject to subject with gaps and leaps, never creating a cohesive tale.

The characters, meanwhile, are two-dimensional, with little in the way of real emotion. At times this book reads like the efforts of an earnest high school student, with breathless descriptions of platonic love and a sudden ending as if the page limit had been reached. It might have been enough to merely read the titles of the chapters that tell the story more parsimoniously — Atlantic Crossing, Lily Marries Ed and Moves to Lethbridge, Young Marrieds Arrive in Lethbridge, etc.

Perhaps it is difficult for women in the 21st century to tap into the emotions of women before they were accorded all the rights and privileges of equal citizens. But that’s the challenge for any writer — to draw us in to the reality of the times and the lives of the characters.

Johnston has failed at this task. One has to wonder if this novel would have seen the light of day without the honourable connections of its author.

 

Anne Katz is a clinical nurse specialist and author of 10 books about cancer and survivorship.