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"A brother is as easily forgotten as an umbrella."�James Joyce, UlyssesRadical and uncompromising, Umbrella is a tour de force from one of England�s most acclaimed contemporary writers, and Self�s most ambitious novel to date. Moving between Edwardian London and a suburban mental hospital in 1971, Umbrella exposes the twentieth century�s technological searchlight as refracted through the dark glass of a long term mental institution. While making his first tours of the hospital at which he has just begun working, maverick psychiatrist Zachary Busner notices that many of the patients exhibit a strange physical tic: rapid, precise movements that they repeat over and over. One of these patients is Audrey Dearth, an elderly woman born in the slums of West London in 1890. Audrey�s memories of a bygone Edwardian London, her lovers, involvement with early feminist and socialist movements, and, in particular, her time working in an umbrella shop, alternate with Busner�s attempts to treat her condition and bring light to her clouded world. Busner�s investigations into Audrey�s illness lead to discoveries about her family that are shocking and tragic.