Mary Ann Sate, Imbecile
By Alice Jolly

Unbound Exclusives
About the book
The year is 1887. In a decaying country house Mary Ann Sate, an elderly maid servant, nurses Mr Cottrell, a man she knew well in her youth. Mr Cottrell does not have long to live and so asks Mary Ann to write down the story of his brother, Ned, who fought for The People’s Charter and for improved wages in the textile mills of the Stroud Valleys.
But as soon as Mary Ann begins to write, anger takes control of her pen. Which story should she write? Maybe it is time for the truth about the Cottrell brothers to be told. As Mary Ann unravels the knots of the past, she comes to see how her love for the brothers destroyed the life she might have had.
Should she now avenge the dead? Or can the mere power of her faltering pen enable her to reclaim her own truth?
Once the initial subscription has been raised then Alice's share of the profits (50% of every book sold) will go to Emmaus - a charity who support homeless people in Gloucestershire and are part of a federation of 350 organisations in 37 countries around the world.
The Emmaus website is here.