Away to the Woods

Lena Kennedy's autobiography features the same sense of community and period that characterizes her novels. Written in three sections, the first depicts the break-up of her community of "shackdwellers", who live in the woods near a Kentish village. The second part is set in London and concerns the start of her writing career and her long search for acceptance by a publisher. Finally, the book's third part covers the last decade of her life and her years of success, in stark contrast to when she was a "shackdwelling" child, sitting on her grandmother's doorstep and listening to her storytelling. Lena Kennedy lived all her life in London's East End. She died in 1986.