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 Wonders of Doctor Bent, 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 stretching up to Matlock and Buxton. Based over the years at the old Derby Royal Infirmary, Royal Derby and Kingsway Hospital, and more recently working from my centre at the Institute of Mental Health at the University of Nottingham, I have worked clinically and in teaching and researching mental health. This has included diverse studies beyond direct clinical applications. For example, 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 book won Best Achievement in The People’s Book Prize, 2021/2. Of course, Nightingale was very familiar with Buxton and The Buxton Herald often reported on her caring work. Later, the celebrated nurse Vera Brittain (1893-1970) trained in Buxton, inspired by the Lady of the Lamp!

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. The main character in my latest novel Doctor Bent rides a Harley as a self-medication for depression, and you will find him riding to Manchester across the Peaks, even visiting nearby Eyam!

For all writers, the feedback from readers is the key reason for writing a novel in the first place. The novel is a kind of conversation or co-construction after all between the imagination of the writer and that of the reader!

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, Mental Health Campaigner, Dave Chawner, author of Weight Expectations and Stand-Up Comedian, like Buxton-great Tim Brooke-Taylor OBE, gave the kind of one-liner that you dream about as a writer!

"Brooding, brilliant and beautiful."

The Wonders of Doctor Bent is out 25th February 2025 and is available at Amazon, WHSmith, Waterstones, and all major retailers.