For half a century Audrey Death has been in a state of
semi-consciousness. Severed from the world of the living after falling
victim to encephalitis lethargica, she has languished in Friern Barnet
Mental Hospital. Then, in 1971, maverick psychiatrist Dr Zack Busner
arrives. Audrey's experiences of a bygone Edwardian London: her
socialist lover, her involvement with the Suffragists, and her work in a
munitions factory during the First World War, alternate with Dr Busner's
attempts to bring her back to life with a new and powerful drug. His
investigations lead to revelations that are both shocking and tragic,
and which will return to haunt him decades later.