Books By Helen Maskew - Author

When she retired she decided to have a twenty-year exit strategy which would see her through to old age. She would complete all the tasks she’d never finished and try to achieve things which she had put on hold while raising a large family and working full time. One of these projects was to try her hand at a novel. In the past her writing experience had been academic, as a professional in the education world. She began writing On the House in December 2012. This book came about following extensive research into her family history where she made a sad discovery. One of her ancestors volunteered himself for Wandsworth workhouse where he hung himself in 1863. What could have prompted such a desperate act? This led her to fascinating research about living conditions, regulation and control in nineteenth century workhouses. She discovered that the fractious issues surrounding the provision of welfare to the poor was very much in existence – a political obsession which still continues to divide opinion. But, while