Interview: Robyn Cadwallader, author of The Anchoress

By Sally Pryor
Updated February 25 2015 - 10:13am, first published February 14 2015 - 12:30am
<i>The Anchoress</i> by Robyn Cadwallader. Photo: Susan Wyndham
<i>The Anchoress</i> by Robyn Cadwallader. Photo: Susan Wyndham
"I've been connected with the church, but … I have massive problems with the institution": Robyn Cadwallader. Photo: Melissa Adams
"I've been connected with the church, but … I have massive problems with the institution": Robyn Cadwallader. Photo: Melissa Adams
"I've been connected with the church, but … I have massive problems with the institution": Robyn Cadwallader. Photo: Melissa Adams
"I've been connected with the church, but … I have massive problems with the institution": Robyn Cadwallader. Photo: Melissa Adams
<i>The Anchoress</i> by Robyn Cadwallader. Photo: Susan Wyndham
<i>The Anchoress</i> by Robyn Cadwallader. Photo: Susan Wyndham
"I've been connected with the church, but … I have massive problems with the institution": Robyn Cadwallader. Photo: Melissa Adams
"I've been connected with the church, but … I have massive problems with the institution": Robyn Cadwallader. Photo: Melissa Adams
<i>The Anchoress</i> by Robyn Cadwallader. Photo: Susan Wyndham
<i>The Anchoress</i> by Robyn Cadwallader. Photo: Susan Wyndham
"I've been connected with the church, but … I have massive problems with the institution": Robyn Cadwallader. Photo: Melissa Adams
"I've been connected with the church, but … I have massive problems with the institution": Robyn Cadwallader. Photo: Melissa Adams

It's a scenario that's simultaneously horrifying and fascinating – a woman who locks herself into a tiny stone cell for life. The walls become her world, the nails hammered into the outside of the door a symbol of her permanent removal from the outside. The cell, in effect, is her chosen grave.

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