A heartwarming tale of hope

claire alexander’s ‘meredith, alone’ affirms that it’s possible to heal from past traumas

‘MY NAME IS Meredith Maggs and I haven’t left my home for 1,214 days.’ So begins this beautiful story about a young woman’s life of isolation. When we’re first drawn into Meredith’s world, we know little of why she’s shut herself away inside her Glasgow home. But as the story unfolds, we learn of her dysfunctional childhood and meet her big sister Fee, who tried to protect Meredith from their mother’s unkind ways. We’re also transported to 2015, the day she decides to stay home for good.

On the surface, Meredith’s life seems calm. She’s a freelance writer and spends her days cooking and doing jigsaws. But we’re reminded of the narrowness of her life with the arrival of Tom, a kind volunteer from a befriending charity. Meredith welcomes him into her life, along with Celeste, who she meets in a forum for lonely people. As we find out more about Meredith’s past, and why she no longer speaks to her family, it begins to make sense why she feels safer remaining within her own four walls.

‘I’d been thinking about themes to explore in the novel, and one was the distinction between loneliness and being alone,’ Claire tells Grazia. ‘Lots of people live alone, but they leave their homes to go to work, socialise, they do what they need to do to avoid feeling lonely. I wondered how someone would cope if they were completely isolated – in a physical sense – when the character of Meredith came to me. What had happened to her to put her in this situation? What did her future hold?’

The book glides along at a calming pace, but it’s not afraid to shift its focus to mental health and the painful complexities of family dysfunction. ‘I knew there had to be trauma in Meredith’s past,’ says Claire. ‘And how many of us can say we haven’t experienced dysfunctional family relationships or mental health issues? These subjects might be difficult to talk about, but it’s having these tricky conversations that helps us reach a place of acceptance and compassion.’

This is a story filled with love and hope, and well-crafted characters. Each one we meet – from her flawed mother, to Jacob, the sweet 10-year-old who lives over the road – is perfectly written and they slot together like one of the jigsaws Meredith loves. By the end, you get the sense she has slowly gathered up all the pieces of her broken life and put it back together again.