Unlocked

Is it time to forget lockdown or time to learn its lessons for a shock-prone world? 33 people tell their stories of how the Covid-19 pandemic changed their lives and view of the world.

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‘These stories have given me an insight into the way that lockdown affected people's lives that goes far beyond anything else I've read, heard or seen, and in that regard alone this is a tremendous piece of social anthropology.’, IAN HOWE

Are our values and aspirations the same as before the pandemic, or has a microscopic virus changed us forever?
Moving from labour ward to funeral parlour, temple to pub, A. J. Stone examines these questions and more through intimate interviews conducted during and after England's national lockdowns. From a mother whose neighbours fail to understand why she can't keep her autistic son quiet to a boxer who succumbs to online gambling when all his sporting events are cancelled, Stone never flinches from the reality her subjects had to face.
These are stories of joy and heartbreak, each presented in their raw, unfiltered glory. Their cumulative impact constitutes a fascinating oral history of our times.
If you love true stories and learning about other people’s lives, join the readers who are raving about Unlocked –

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‘This collection of interviews, by turns sweet, disturbing, moving, tough and funny, is an engaging and immersive read. It is a remarkable archive.’ KARL FRENCH

‘A. J. Stone's approach is so careful and thoughtful, and I particularly love that she lets people speak in their own voices of their own stories.' TINA PEPLER

INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR

Q What gave you the idea for this book?
As a parent and having worked with traumatised and vulnerable young people, I was interested in how lockdown was affecting children. As I started to speak to young people, my interest expanded into exploring lockdown’s impact across the whole of society. There were so many contrasting experiences; you know, some people had quite a good lockdown, while, of course, for others, it was devastating and has had long lasting effects.

Q And while we were in lockdown, I gather you interviewed people over Zoom?
Yes, like many others, I turned to Zoom, but I also did some interviews over the phone. Working over Zoom was very interesting; it actually had some advantages. One interviewee said that she felt like she’d been sitting in her room talking to herself and, because of this, she’d basically told me her life story. I think that sense of distance that we get over Zoom can actually make it easier for some people to open up.

Q There has been a flurry of lockdown books; why do we need another?
Yes, there have been lots, and plenty of articles too. But this book benefits from a broader time-frame: it covers both the period of lockdown as well as the months afterwards when all legal restrictions had been removed. So it’s a reflective record of lockdown’s cumulative and longer-term impact as told by many different voices. And irrespective of lockdown, I think the stories are interesting in themselves because, well, aren’t most of us curious about the intricacies of other people’s lives?