books
THE MEDEA COMPLEX
Rachel Florence Roberts (CreateSpace Independent Publishing)
BOOK
OF THE
MONTH
At the centre of this text lies the unforgivable crime of a mother murdering her
child. Committed to Bethlem Hospital for the insane, Lady Stanbury has no
recollection of ever being married, giving birth, or bludgeoning her eight-week
old son in the kitchen of her manor home.
Paying homage to tales of Victorian women incorrectly confined to asylums,
with clear reference to Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper, The
Medea Complex raises the question of whether this woman is truly mad or if
she is simply guilty of the ultimate crime against her duty to motherhood. In
this text we find a murder mystery, a courtroom drama and a woman battling
against her troubled mind.
Seeing young Anne struggle against memory loss and confusion as to why she is unable to return
home, readers are inclined to pray for her return to health and her reunion with her bereft young
husband, Edgar, but is what seems right always for the best? This book calls into question morality
and the punishments due to those who commit crimes, leaving readers torn between two sides of a
marriage at war.
As the mystery surrounding two murders slowly unravels we witness violence, hatred and desire for
revenge between two parties, each deceived and abused by the other. The characters of this text
are most certainly never who they seem to be and we find ourselves desperate to unravel the truth
surrounding crimes and misdeeds.
With a strong basis in true events, drawing the horrors and injustices of the past, this text comes
unnervingly close to reality, Roberts has written a book that keeps readers guessing to the end and
teasingly refuses to give them what they crave. LS. Price: £10.85. Info: www.themedeacomplex.com
To win a copy of The Medea Complex answer the following: Q. Jason and Medea was written
by which ancient Greek tragedian? (see pg. 70 for competition entry details)
@mabjones
XX Women’s Writing Festival returns
to Chapter this year for International
Women’s Day. There will be workshops
(one by meee!), readings, and loads more;
including a turn from Kathryn Simmonds,
one of my favourite poets (and who is
featured as our guest in this month’s
Lit). That’s on the weekend of the 8 Mar.
Before then, on Sat 1 and Sun 2 Mar,
Literature Wales will be running a dropin poetry café in the Wales Millennium
Centre, where anyone can have a go at
writing a wee ditty. Or an epic ballad. Or a
ribald rhyme. Or anything at all, really! On
the afternoon of the Sun 23 Back Of The
Pub Poetry Club in Porth offers an open
mic as well as details of upcoming poetry
opportunities. Have fun, all, and see you
again next month! MAB X
The Reluctant