Behind the wrought-iron gates of Meirion Court, the country’s elite live out their golden years in unparalleled opulence. Its tagline is, “If you have to go into care, this is the place.” For the gifted working-class narrator, becoming its part-owner/ manager has been a lifelong ambition - until a terrifying new respiratory virus sweeps the world. Warned by Molly, a retired judge with insider connections, that hospitals will soon start to offload Covid patients, she closes her doors preemptively. While elderly mortality rates soar beyond the walls, her residents lead a charmed life, thanks to her leadership, staff selflessness and their early adoption of AI. Inside, champagne flows and the wealthy residents create the intellectual ferment and community last seen in Medieval beguinages. Meirion Court was not unique. Three facilities in the UK adopted similar strategies, but their stories were omitted from the Hallett Report. As her mentor argues, “her novel articulates a vision of loving care that challenges existing practices.” The new Burnham Government and Louise Casey are reviewing adult care, and this fable deserves a role in the debate.
"At one of the boarding houses where Mammy and I shared a room, someone had left a tourist brochure of a weird and wonderful Welsh seaside village called Port Meirion. The buildings were a multi-coloured jumble of styles - Arts and Crafts, Palladian and Gothic. If our flat became too claustrophobic, Port Meirion became my hidey-hole. I imagined a utopian community with ladies in Regency dresses and gentlemen in top hats peddling around on penny farthings. Ever since, I had been imagining the design of a Regency mansion. Stuccoed exteriors, ironwork balconies: I knew every detail, every fabric, every colour shade, years before we opened."
Spanish troops, brought in to help tackle the spread of coronavirus, discovered elderly people left dead and abandoned in their rooms.
In the UK, private care homes' profit margins soared in the first year of the pandemic, increasing from 4% to 6%, or £194m net.
But Meirion Court had an AI-assisted Action Plan that challenged the NHS interface and prioritised compassion over profit.
This deeply charged, prophetic novel tells the story of unsung altruism, creativity and courage in the face of Government indifference, frailty and death.
Read book excerpts
Get a taste of the novel with selected chapters that show the formulation of a plan to challenge the boundaries of care and kindness.
About the author
Read the Professor's Preface about the anonymous author of Meirion Court and the process that brought its story to life.
Questions and Comments
Meirion Court celebrates pre-emptive isolation. Its climax comes as both the staff and its intelligent, powerful and wealthy clientele agree to a lock-in.