Finding asylum in dark places

High Royds Hospital is a striking former asylum, with its pyramid-like elevation and dominating tower. One can see why it worked as a film set and, like so many former asylums, is in transition to residential housing. Incarceration in such places continues of course in a different guise today in high-security hospitals. People with serious mental disorders who present a grave and immediate danger to others often reside in prison-like hospitals that are quite the opposite to the original notion of asylum.

In The Wonders of Doctor Bent, the worlds of Jason Hemp, an English lecturer, and Dr Bent, the unlikely Medical Director of high-security psychiatric hospital Foston Hall, come together in a dark tale of murder, revenge and abandonment. Attempting to track down his twin brother’s killer, he finds his life unravelling in unexpected and frightening ways, whilst visionary Dr Bent attempts to reform Foston Hall into a place of comfort, creating ‘his wonders’, all while facing his own mental health challenges.

Of course, while the imaginary midlands I create bears some resemblance to real physical environments in the region, all events and characters are purely inventions.

Looking back, my writing life has grown out of complex, intergenerational trauma, not least through adverse experiences in childhood. Such experiences bring loss of trust so profound, so immense, that I have been seriously depressed. Like the character Dr Bent, I too have battled against taking my own life.

Books and writing have been my self-prescribed medication, sustaining me in my writing and in my work leading research at The University of Nottingham's Institute of Mental Health. I am, like many colleagues contributing in the field of mental health, and like Doctor Bent, a wounded healer.

One of the joys of writing fiction alongside academic non-fiction is hearing back from my readers.

Advance Praise:

“A brilliantly written thriller… Paul Crawford draws us into the dire consequences of adverse childhoodexperiences, trauma, loss, grief and depression. He poignantly reveals the potential for recovery through ahumanistic approach to recovery and growth.”- Gene Beresin MD, Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School

“A moving tale of loss and love. Jason Hemp breaks down after his perfect brother is murdered and Dr Bent, animperfect, thrill-seeking, motorcycle-riding healer, fights to transform the humiliating state of the publicservices. His revolutionary changes are undermined, and he is left wondering what it is all for, and resolves torepair his own dark wounds...”- Kamaldeep Bhui CBE, Professor of Psychiatry, The University of Oxford

"A beautifully written and engaging psychological thriller that will keep you thinking long after the final page."- Dr David Crepaz-Keay FRSPH, Mental Health Foundation

“Loved the book! The Wonders of Doctor Bent is an engaging and entertaining novel. A vividly realised versionof life in the contemporary English midlands.”- James Moran, Professor of Modern English Literature and Drama

"Brooding, brilliant and beautiful."- Dave Chawner, Author of Weight Expectations, Stand-Up Comedian and Mental Health Campaigner

To my readers past and readers future in Yorkshire, I thank you! To those traumatised in childhood, and those struggling with mental challenges, I wish all good things to come your way.

The Wonders of Doctor Bent is available at Amazon, WHSmith, Foyles, Waterstones, Foyles, Cranthorpe Millner, and all good bookshops.