jmb, Brad, Wolf, Beth, Raven, Valoe, Mr Fernando: Many thanks for your generous comments, which I appreciate very much.
There's so much that I could add in reply, but the main impression is the variety of responses from you, several of them moving and enlightening. My own reaction to this woman was very mixed; I felt pity for her losses, admiration for her strength, but some element of suspicion that she must have survived, and thrived (as she clearly had), through a degree of ruthlessness.

But how else did one survive in the face of these terrible conditions?

Davie