Bed Absolute: A teenage diary of TB in the 1960s

The highs, lows and shocks of a teenager's life in a TB sanatorium in England in 1960In 1959, days before Christmas, 13-year-old Barbara was taken into hospital after testing positive for tuberculosis.Crossley Sanatorium would, she was told, be her home for 10 weeks. But the weeks turned into months then into a year.. The shy teenager had to grow up fast in that strange adult world, peopled by bitter women, stranded sailors, a predatory doctor, an aspiring actress and a sex worker.. To keep her company, Barbara wrote her diary. In it, she found her way through a life on hold, seizing whatever she could for fun, all the while unaware that a very different kind of crisis was brewing at home.. Alongside the diary is her 21st century adult commentary and some information for those interested to know more about the social and medical history revealed.