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'The story is fictional, the drug was real'
Judith Barrow wrote this book to bring attention to the trauma sufferered by the victims of the drug Diethylstilboestrol (DES), given to women between the years 1949 and 1971. It was prescribed to prevent miscarriage, but had a devastating effect on the daughters - and possibly the granddaughters - of the women who took it, meaning that they had miscarriages, too, cancers of the reproductive organs usually associated with older women, and other problems to do with that part of the body. Unlike with Thalidomide there has been very little publicity about it, and the women who campaigned for what they had been through and why to be recognised, faced many brick walls.
I think writing a novel about it is such a good way of letting people know about the ongoing tragedy; I would not read an article about it, but I read this. Silent Trauma follows the lives of four women affected by the drug, and the friendship that forms between them: Meg, whose daughter Lisa took her own life; Rachel, whose husband left her because of the change in their marriage due to her depression caused by several miscarriages; Avril, a recluse whose life was shattered by cancer in her teens; and Jackie, caught in a difficult and violent relationship with a woman, herself a product of a difficult upbringing.
Aside from the main purpose of the book, I enjoyed reading about the four women very much; it's a well written, well planned story. The characterisation is terrific, and the situations so real. I've read Judith Barrow's nostalgia orientated, warts and all family sagas set in the north of England during the 40s, 50s and 60s, but actually liked this more. I read it in one sitting. Speaking as one who has never had the urge to have children I cannot imagine how it must feel to want them so badly that you feel like less than a woman if you can't reproduce, but all the emotions were painted so vividly that I felt everything the characters went through, and the situations were met with great understanding and sensitivity.
Jolly well done :)
Thank you so much, Terry. Silent Trauma was a difficult book to write and I've never been really sure I got it right. You have given me such a boost. I give talks on this charity and so many times, people have never heard of it and the damage it's done to so many lives. I'm really grateful for your review and this post.Jx
ReplyDeleteOh, you absolutely did! It's such a good way of bringing it to people's notice. It brings attention to the whole way in which we are kept in the dark about prescription meds generally, too.
DeleteThank you again. I do tend to get on my soap box about this. It's frustrating that the UK Government at the time, who paid Charles Dodd to produce the artificial oestrogen, now refuses to recognises the damage it has caused just because it's so long ago. Yet in the USA it's been proved it's passed to the granddaughters.
DeleteYep, all the big pharm companies care about is money, and half the government are investors in them - thus the silence. Many of doctors have financial interest, too - I've seen a few programmes exposing it.
DeleteA wonderful, well-deserved review for an excellent book. I'd never heard of the drug before I read Judith's book.
ReplyDeleteNor me, Mary! Thanks :)
DeleteThank you, Mary. You're not alone. We are woefully ignorant about this drug. But it's not the fault of the general public. It's been ignored by successive UK Governments for years. There's an obvious reason!!
DeleteThis sounds fascinating and definitely one to read. As a medical writer, I know a little about DES but it's received nothing like the attention that Thalidomide has. Well done, Judith, for raising awareness of such a damaging drug.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, Kat, of course, it would be of huge interest to you! There is a lot of info about it, too, and stuff that's been written about it. Do get it :)
DeleteThank you, Katrina. In the UK it's a subject ignored by the Governments... and woefully unrecognised by the professionals.
DeleteThe charity in the USA is so on the ball. Unfortunately, in the UK, it folded because of lack of recognition/ funds/ Government help. Thank you fro your comments, Katrina JX
DeleteThis sounds like a book that would resonate with me - I couldn't have children (even with in vitro) so we adopted. I can understand the emotions all too well. Judith does write really well, too.
ReplyDeleteOh, in that case you should definitely get it, Noelle!
DeleteNoelle, a belated thank you. I tried to empathise and portray all the emotions from all the research and chats I had with the mothers and daughters I was in contact with. Jx
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