Book Midden Publishing

Daphne Condon spent her childhood in the Valleys of South Wales in the years during and after the Second World War. Her grandmother, highly respected in the neighbourhood for her herbal cures, was a domineering figure who ruled the family. It was a strict upbringing in which poverty and disease was a fact of life.Drilled on the importance of telling the truth, dutifully attending Baptist Chapel three times every Sunday, at the age of seventeen Daphne yearned to escape to make her own way in the world. Showing great courage she upped sticks to work as a ward maid in St. Cadoc’s Mental Hospital, Caerleon (the “Red Brick Building” of the book’s title), an intimidating institution with locked wards and unbendable rules of etiquette. Daphne fostered ambitions to become a nurse. She felt a strong calling to nursing. She struggled for decades, with many mishaps along the way. She endured prejudice, bullying and loneliness as she fought hard to fulfil her arduous, repetitive chores.

Eventually she was given a chance to qualify as a mental health professional. This is a touching story, sometimes funny, often sad, always compelling. Daphne’s  own distinct Valley’s voice comes through to reveal a woman’s long journey and her ultimate triumph against all the odds.

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