Women's liberation is an incredibly recent development historically. When we speak of the 60s, what we are often remembering are the 70s. Self-imposed prisons, as you call them, are usually so hard to break free from because we don't see the bars. My parents have reached their 70s and 80s respectively without ever acknowledging the invisible cells they locked themselves into back in 1952. Infidelity, non-communication, sexual frigidity and poor relations between parent and child all feature in Rough Music .
Any relationship can become a prison when it ceases to function freely.
But it's not all bleak. I've tried to structure Rough Music as a testament to the amazing ability of some relationships to weather shocks and rebuild themselves along stronger lines. I also wanted to ask you how confronting it was to write so intimately about a family. Obviously, though you state otherwise in the book, some readers will want to see this as some sort of therapeutic airing of your own family history. Let s just say that my family history, and the relationships within it, are as colourful as anyone's.