Award-winning author, Professor Paul Crawford, tells us about how Derbyshire lay at the heart of his latest novel, The Wonders of Doctor Bent

In the novel, the worlds of Jason Hemp, an English lecturer, and Dr Bent, the unlikely Medical Director of a high-security psychiatric hospital, come together in a dark tale of murder, revenge and abandonment.

Attempting to track down his twin brother’s killer, Jason finds his life unravelling in unexpected and frightening ways. Whilst visionary Dr Bent attempts to reform the secure hospital into a place of comfort, all while facing his own mental health challenges. Like Jason Hemp, self-medicating Dr Bent has to fight for his own identity and capacity to survive. He is a wounded healer, like so many clinical staff I have met over many years.

Much of my work in mental health has been in Derbyshire, based at the old Royal Infirmary, Royal Derby and Kingsway Hospital, before heading down the A52 to the Institute of Mental Health in Nottingham. Over the many years, I grew familiar with Derbyshire’s people, cultural diversity and heritage, not least a slew of fabulous historical buildings. So much so, I co-wrote Florence Nightingale at Home, a history of the pioneering nurse who spent much of her long life at Lea Hurst near Matlock. This won Best Achievement in The People’s Book Prize, 2021/2.

In my novel, The Wonders of Doctor Bent, another old Derbyshire home, Foston Hall, near Tutbury, lends a prominent imaginary space and name for the high-security hospital that Dr Bent directs in the novel. In real life, the building serves as a prison and young offender institution. Another site, old Pastures Hospital at Mickleover also features, amalgamated with several other Victorian hospitals I have worked in across the midlands.

Quite aside from the overlap between historical buildings in Derbyshire and the fictional world I imagine, the novel explores mental trauma and recovery, and dilemmas around the treatment of people with serious mental disorders who kill or threaten to kill others.

As I wrote the novel, in my hallucinatory imagination, I found the A52 between Derby and Nottingham shorten, with much of the action occurring in or around the fictional village of Ardinweald, swallowed up in an urban sprawl in “the somewhere” of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. On reflection, I think this village absorption owes greatly to living so long in Littleover, once its own place with fields between itself and the city centre.

One of the wonderful things about writing a novel is the feedback of readers. After all, reading is the main event. Each reader will interpret and ‘see’ the action of the novel in unique ways. The characters will walk about in the minds of readers, inhabit and contribute to different kinds of reader experiences of the drama.

Among the many early reviews of the novel, Gene Beresin, Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, wrote: “In The Wonders of Doctor Bent, Paul Crawford brilliantly draws us in to the suffering of his characters – their battles with the impact of adverse childhood experiences and trauma on loss, grief and depression. It makes a compelling case for all of us to seek recovery, as health professionals and lay individuals alike.”

Dr David Crepaz-Keay, Mental Health Foundation, commented: "Paul Crawford’s The Wonders of Doctor Bent is a gripping exploration of mental health, morality, and the human psyche. With impeccable prose and a thought-provoking plot, this dark literary thriller not only captivates fans of the genre but also offers profound value to those with lived experience of or an interest in mental health, shedding light on the complexities of compassion and accountability."

Another reader, Dave Chawner, author of Weight Expectations, stand-up comedian and mental health campaigner gave the kind of one-liner that you dream about as a writer!

"Brooding, brilliant and beautiful."

The Wonders of Doctor Bent is out February 25 and is available at Amazon, WHSmith, Waterstones, and all other major retailers.