First published in 1961 and winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, this short novel is an interesting comparison with other books from the same era which are set in mental hospitals. The staff in this one are kind, though patronising, and are doing their best to provide treatment according to standards of the time. The author, Jennifer Dawson (1929 – 2000) had experience in mental hospitals as both a patient and a social worker.

The book is narrated by Josephine, a young woman who had a breakdown after struggling at Oxford University and the sudden death of her mother. After spending time on a locked ward, she has recovered somewhat and is allowed to leave during the day for a job cataloguing books. She is due to leave the hospital for good, but coping with the outside world is difficult because she doesn’t fit into society and never knows what to say. The title of the book has two meanings: her tendency to laugh at the absurdity of everything and the wall behind the hospital where she and a male patient meet and eventually form a relationship.

Described as a ‘lost classic’, I think this book deserves to be more widely known. I found it a compelling read and there are some very unusual perspectives. I felt there were flashes of brilliances in the description which made the novel worth reading. Some of it didn’t make much sense to me and I’m not sure if that was the intention, to reflect the characters’ thinking. There are also references of an academic nature and to the era, which I didn’t get. I was annoyed by the repetition of words, such as ‘grimace’ and ‘grin’ (and variations of these) which are used 11 times each! A new, named character was introduced just before the end of the story, something I always disapprove of. Yet these are small issues, compared to the book’s overall achievement of questioning the role of women in society and what happens to those who don’t conform.

This edition of the book has an introduction by Daisy Johnson and includes the author’s afterword from 1984, which is very illuminating.

Thank you to the publisher Faber for the review copy via NetGalley. The publication date is 31st July.