Harvest

Harvest was forged in an emotional melting-pot. The author was walking one morning in the grounds of Fulbourn Psychiatric Hospital near Cambridge, having been held under a section of the Mental Health Act. This meant that she could not leave the hospital grounds. But the grounds were extensive and from the edge of the gardens she could see Fulbourn windmill standing on the brow of Fulbourn Hill. She reached deeply inside herself and came up with a poem which, though she had always written, came from a place more serious and resonant than ever before.
Gradually, other poems followed, detailing her interaction with the mental health system and the consoling connection she felt with the natural world. On her release, she finished the collection: songs, sonnets, hymns and ballads, a readable variety of responses to harsh experience.

Linda Appleby is a native of Cambridge with Welsh roots. She was educated at The Perse School, Cambridge, where she was awarded both 6th Form prizes for English Literature and went on to gain a top Philosophy first of her year at Somerville College, Oxford. She taught English at North Warwickshire College and ran the college’s language policy. Retiring on the diagnosis of a psychotic illness, she has devoted herself to her writing. She has written two novels and three poetry collections, as well as short stories and articles. Linda was married to Professor John Appleby. They have two sons.