Ursula's Arm

Why does Ursula's right arm hang limply by her side The doctors can find nothing wrong - is she faking it or is it all in the mind Her husband, Leo, wants Ursula to see Mrs Moberley, a psychoanalyst, but her sister tells her Freud's ideas are the work of the devil. Sick of being surrounded by so-called experts, Ursula takes herself off to see Mrs Moberley anyway. What happens next will change her life forever. Mrs Moberley lends her Marie Stopes Married Love but her husband is appalled - and her sister's view on sex proves to be more 'grin and bear it'. Ursula's enlightened friend visits from Paris, and confesses that she is in love with another woman - which causes Ursula to question her own feelings for Mrs Moberley. Leo, who had once advocated therapy, now starts to backtrack; while her sister confesses to the trauma in Ursula's childhood which everyone assumed she was too young to understand. Freud viewed 'hysterical limbs' as the result of early psychological trauma, but Mrs Moberley is more interested in Ursula's present circumstances than her childhood. Gradually Ursula's arm regains its strength - but was it such a good idea to get everything out in the open


Genre: Literary Fiction