Some people suffer at the hands of those they love; I saw too many of them when practicing as a psychologist, both women and, surprising to some, almost as many men. The genesis of this novel was in hearing of their pain, the horrible dilemma of loving someone who was prepared to hurt them and my awareness of ‘learned helplessness’ where constant abuse reduces the very humanity of the victim due to their believing that there is nothing they can say or do to change their situation.
It is rare that people are prepared to go as far as Jeanie goes in this story but thoughts of doing so are not uncommon. We have all read of the few cases where some spark of latent resistance has broken through their pall of powerlessness enabling the victim to strike back, often overwhelmingly. When examined, the excess of this reaction is appropriate to the impression of total power that their abuser has so carefully cultivated. It seems these people do not react in anger; instead their actions are a result of protracted deliberation originating from longstanding despair and, it seems to me, aspects of clinical depression.
These are the people who inspired me to ask the question, ‘What would happen afterwards?’ Once that question was articulated, The Pumpkin Eater’s Wife wrote itself.
Tannis Laidlaw MSc, DipOT, DipTchg, DipClinHyp, PhD