I had never heard of Margiad Evans (born Peggy Whistler), an English writer who died at a young age in 1958 after battling epilepsy and then a brain tumour. She was determined to chronicle her struggles with the condition that eventually claimed her life and did so with a perceptive and at times harrowing honesty.

Margiad particularly identified with the Welsh border country and spent several years living near Ross-on-Wye.

Little was understood about epilepsy in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and Margiad's own writing about her fits was rubbished by some in the medical profession. This saddened her but she remained convinced of the truth being closer to her own experience than the opinions of the so-called experts, with one or two notable exceptions.

The writings contain a diary of a trip to Ireland, excerpts from letters to the benefactor who made the Irish trip possible, a chronicle of Margiad’s stay in a hospital in Bristol when her epilepsy became acute, and five poems written at the same time.

There is a refreshing candour and humour in the account of the trip to Ireland, detailing trips out and buildings that interested her. Margiad clearly enjoys meeting people and is extremely perceptive of what she sees and hears around her.

The letters are interesting as they give a window into Margiad's personal life, in particular the relationship with her young daughter and the increasing frustration she feels at the impact of epilepsy on her writing.

Whilst in hospital, Margiad writes at length about the fits and how these affect her physically and emotionally, and there is a real sense of the fear and dislocation that she must have felt. The poems written whilst in hospital are more evidence of her gifts as a writer, and the one about the relationship with her sister, Sian, is especially poignant, and evocative of innocent childhood before epilepsy reared its head.

Margiad Evans is a courageous and gifted writer deserving of a wider audience, which I hope this publication will achieve for her.

I was sent a review copy of this book by Honno Press, in return for an honest appraisal.