St. Anne's of the Locks is set in the Midlands in the early part of the twentieth century, against the backdrop of the First World War and its aftermath. The title comes from the name of a mental asylum, to which were admitted, in addition to the mentally ill, various social misfits, troublesome nonconformists, unmarried pregnant women and women who were suffering from postnatal depression, domestic violence, diseases associated with poverty and malnourishment. The main character is one such woman, Mary Brownhill, a country girl who goes into service with a family of industrialists. She is a...