Recently, I found a series of notebooks filled with cramped, pencilled handwriting - the diaries of Bella’s husband, Major General John Ludlow. The diaries were in the attic, proper quarters of fictional mad wives, but as I read I found that, far from hiding Bella away, the General did his best to keep her at the heart of family life. The diaries gave me an unbearably poignant account of her illness. Despite the unstinting love and support of husband, siblings and friends, this great-great-great-aunt of mine could not be saved from her demons.
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