“A necessary madness”: PTSD in Mary Balogh’s survivors’ club novels

Abstract

Mary Balogh’s eight neo-Regency novels that comprise her Survivors’ Club series deal with nearly every aspect of PTSD that resulted from the Peninsular War. Balogh’s plots offer resolution, healing and hope not only for her characters but also for her readers who may be suffering from PTSD or may have a relationship with someone who suffers from it. Even though Balogh foregrounds battle-related PTSD, she concurrently draws parallels between it and other forms of trauma caused by behaviour and events that were also forbidden subjects to be discussed during the nineteenth century, such as spousal abuse, abandonment of a child by an alcoholic parent, bankruptcy through gambling, psychological damage from social and familial rejection, rape, spousal infidelity, miscarriages, death of a spouse, death of a child, homosexuality, and the inability of women to follow their dreams and hearts or to have a means to provide financially for themselves and children.