And, quite by chance the other day, I found myself passing the actual convent in Roehampton where she underwent her Guantanamo-like experiences, all those years ago.
One victim recalled in court that she heard passers-by say 'Oh dear, I think it's a rape', as she underwent her ordeal.
Nine years ago, Barran underwent her own romcom-style epiphany, the first of two, when she abandoned her four-year career cleaning private yachts with toothpicks and bought an ice-cream van on eBay.
She followed this up in 1978 with "Illness as Metaphor," written as she underwent her first bout with cancer, and then, in 1989, with a sequel, "AIDS and Its Metaphors".
Yet the girl who grew up to be a sociologist – and the mother and subject of Jeremy Gavron's compelling memoir – also underwent her first therapy session at the age of two, with Dr Marianne Kris (who later treated Marilyn Monroe).
Before she underwent her first surgery, it had been determined by her physicians (possibly by Hirschfeld) that Elbe had more female than male hormones and likely had what is now known as Klinefelter syndrome, a disorder of the sex chromosomes that occurs in males.
