As a student of history I was looking forward to reading this book. However I found it far too simplistic, though for others that will make it accessible. It is written as a guidebook, as if you are the 'lunatic'. It takes you through admissions, structure and day to day life. I would have liked case studies and more than anything a bibliography. #LifeintheVictorianAsylum #NetGalley

This history of two Victorian Asylums (Moulsford and Broadmoor) was extremely well-written, well-researched, and very engaging. I found it very readable. I really liked the structure. It was written in two parts: part one was written as a patients handbook with a Victorian tone and perspective; part two was the patient's experience as seen with a 21st century perspective. I really like the stories of a few of the patients given at the end of the book.

"Those who suffer from mental illness are only people just like all of us. We treat them no differently to anyone else. We respect them, we value them, and we join with them. We spent the past together and we go forward together." (pg. 170)

I was recently able to read an ARC on Life in the Victorian Asylum by Mark Stevens. When I think about asylum in the Victorian age, I always see rather gruesome pictures in my head, and countless horrors come to mind. This book casts a rather different light on asylums and mental health care in the Victorian age. The author, Mark Stevens, is a professional archivist working with asylum records.

This book consists mostly of a “Welcome Guide”, written as if the reader themselves were admitted to an asylum. The details in this book are many, and they make, to be honest, for a rather dull read. As you would expect from a welcome guide. The last 20% or so of the book are about the development of asylums until today.

Personally, I feel the author should have changed his choice of words, referring only inside the “guide” to the asylum patients as “lunatics”. It feels a very insensitive in the second part of the book.

I actually was surprised by the description of life in an asylum. There is a huge difference to the depiction in today’s media. I am intrigued to research more about the topic, where do the horror stories originate? Surely the actual asylums were partly very good institutions, and in part very bad, and most somewhere in between. The author does not claim to be debunking myths. It was an interesting read though, if incredibly dull to get through. The insensitivity depicted by the author causes another star to be deleted.

2/5 Goodreads stars.

It was a bit of a surprise to start reading this book and basically find myself being led by the hand as though I was actually being admitted to an asylum. It's a really nice touch, making the reality of asylum life in Victorian times far more tangible. No one is denying that abuses happened, but this book focuses on the intentions of asylums, which is a refreshing angle to look at things from. Mental health is something largely ignored until something "goes wrong" today, it seems until it becomes a matter of life or death. We wouldn't do too badly to incorporate some of the Victorians' thinking into modern day mental health services. "Life in the Victorian Asylum" is thought-provoking and fascinating.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advance copy to review. This review is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

The author did a fantastic job explaining what all the mental health patients went through during the Victorian era. At that time, mental illnesses were very unknown, If something was wrong with you by their standards your family shipped you off to these facilities basically to die. No one had any compassion for these patients..

‘What we offer in return for your co-operation is the very latest in lunatic healthcare.’

Have you ever wondered what it might be like to be in a Victorian asylum? The first part of this book is set out as a patient manual: what you need to know if you were being admitted. Highly informative: there’s information about accommodation, diagnosis, staff, the daily routine and treatment.

‘You may find it so comforting that you never leave.’

Part two includes a history of Victorian asylums, and the author writes that he used a small asylum (the Moulsford Asylum in Berkshire) as the model for ’the workings of a public asylum as it operated during the last three decades of Queen Victoria’s life.’

Part two also includes some brief pen portraits of some of the patients admitted to Moulsford, and a note about how Broadmoor (the UK’s criminal asylum) differs.

If you are interested in the history of asylums and the treatment of mental illness in the nineteenth century, you may find this book as interesting as I did. In some ways (and for some cases) nineteenth century treatment was much more enlightened than I expected. This is a republication of a book first published in 2014.

Note: My thanks to NetGalley and Pen and Sword for providing me with a free electronic copy of this book for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

"Life in the Victorian Asylum" is a fascinating account of the title subject. I'll definitely be recommending this one.

This was a very interesting read that shows we have a wrong image of the Victorian asylums. Especially in the second half of the 19th century they were actually great institutions, and in some ways provided better care than the current system does. Although backwards in some of their ideas (especially regarding sexism), they were surprisingly modern and humane, and accomplished a lot with the few means they had (both financial and in ways of medical knowledge/treatments).

The book is written in two parts, the first and largest written as if the reader is about to enter the asylum and contains all you might want to know regarding the building, illnesses, staff, acceptance and discharge, treatment, daily routine, etc etc etc. Sometimes this went into a bit too much detail for my personal interest (I don’t really need to know the particular flushing systems used in the toilets for example), but overall it is very interesting. The second part contains everything else, such as more history on the specific asylum where information was gathered by the author, what happened to the asylums up till now, and a few specific patients were discussed. I really wish this last bit had been longer, because to me this was the most interesting part that really pulled everything together and brought it all to live. I do understand though that it didn’t quite fit in with the topic aimed for in the book.

Overall I thought this was a very accessible and interesting read, which served as quite an eyeopener and a great base to reflect the various portrayals of asylums in fiction against. 3.5*

I requested this , not realising I had read it already a while back.
It is a well researched, interesting book ... perfect for history fans. This subject fascinates me and I try and delve in to anything I can get my hands on in regards to this subject. Unfortunately it didn’t grip me as I’d hoped

Thank you to netgalley, the author and publisher for allowing me to read in return for an honest review

As a mental health professional i found this an interesting read, however I did find the style it was written in slightly irritating. It could have just been written in the third person rather than it being written as if you were getting admitted to the hospital. It read like the longest patient information leaflet ever. Thank you netgalley for the opportunity to read this title in exchange for an honest review.

I’m sorry to say that I did not finish reading Life in the Victorian Asylum. As a student of history with an interest in Victorian life and culture, I liked the premise of this work, and was excited to learn more about mental health services in the Victorian Era. Unfortunately, I found this book quite laborious; weighed down by too much detail. As much as I wanted to, I could not engage with this book. The first half is written as if you yourself are being admitted into the Victorian asylum. While this could be quite interesting, it is simply filled with too much information, too much detail...it just drags on and on. I think I would have preferred more of a focus on historical cases....it would have been more engaging to present the information through the lived experiences of actual persons rather than a long, drawn out and overly saturated welcome guide/instruction manual type approach.

I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

I find this type of subject fascinating. I was intrigued by the book and although not my usual fare, I found it a very accessible read

Clearly well researched, it was a fascinating read.

Having read a lot on 20th century institutions, I was really looking forward to learning more about their Victorian counterparts. I’m interested in how care has evolved over the years, and the reasons for this. This book gave a great insight into life within a Victorian asylum, and how you could expect to be treated. Fascinating, gripping and unsettling, it makes me glad to not be alive at that time, and a sense of loss for all those who were and who suffered at the hands of this care.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this review copy. A fascinating look at the Victorian asylum, which was more compassionate than I thought it would be. Would be a very useful research tool for any one writing about this topic.

This was so interesting to me being obsessed with history and bleaker times. I felt swallowed up into a world I can't even imagine but would certainly recommend to anyone interested in history. Pick this up if you like history about darker times and also if you don't it's eye opening to read what happened in such places and sometimes unimaginable.

A very interesting exploration of life in the victorian asylum showing the changes from the poor conditions of the Georgian asylum and how this was developed to provide more humane care for patients exhibiting many different mental health conditions.

This book was great! It was so easy to lose yourself in the story, and kept you turning pages to see what happened next! Will definitely be recommending!

I have always been fascinated by what some consider the macabre. As soon as I saw the words Victorian asylum, I was intrigued. However this was nothing like I was expecting. Not in a bad way, mind you. I was pleasantly surprised. The first part of the book reads like a handbook on what to expect when you are admitted to the asylum. I enjoyed the format and felt as if one of the staff were personally touring me around the place and pointing out all the little details that I would have missed on my own. There were a lot of facts that surprised me as I read all about what my stay at the asylum would consist of. I also enjoyed the patient examples that Stevens peppered throughout the book. The writing was clear and concise and true to the time period. I feel like I know so much more about the time period and the perceptions of those admitted during those days. If you are interested in a realistic view of Victorian Asylums, then this book is for you. Happy reading!

Instead of highlighting the experiences of real patients of Victorian asylums, this book places the reader inside of such an institution, based on a couple of real-life examples. The first part of the book, which runs for the first three quarters, is written in the second person. It is intended to serve as a welcome package for someone admitted to an asylum. The book proceeds by providing the reader with information about the layout and administration of the asylum in painstaking detail, with a few examples of actual patients strewn throughout.

While the structure of the novel was intended to place the reader inside the asylum to help one understand how it felt, what it accomplished was removing all of the individuals who experienced life in Victorian asylums. Furthermore, the book was intended as a defense of Victorian asylums, characterizing their existence as misplaced compassion. However, this central thesis existed at odds with the few examples provided of the horrific experiences of various individuals, including children with disabilities who were sent away to live in sterile environments, and the contemplation of sterilisation to prevent mental illness. Furthermore, the examples provided in this volume were drawn from two of the best cases of asylums in Victorian England, which certainly provided better conditions for their patients than the scores of asylums not mentioned. In fact, the Bedlam asylum is often used as a foil to the constructed asylum in the first part of the book, underlining the point that this book did not provide information on what typical Victorian asylum life was really like.

Life in the Victorian Asylum by Mark Stevens
Genre: History, Non-Fiction
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Publish Date: 30 July 2020

Star Rating 3.5/5

Do you want to know what it's like to live in a Victorian Asylum? Then this book is for you!

Stevens has made an amazing and highly researched work that entertains and lets us know just what it was like. The book is split into two parts. The first reads as a brochure for the Victorian Asylum. We are taken on a journey of how we will be assessed if you need to go to an institution, how and whom we will meet on our way on entering the Asylum, activities, accommodation, treatments, etc. all with the reassurances that they are here to help and all procedures are in-line with the Lunacy Act. I felt like I was browsing a broacher for a camping holiday. It's a unique way to present the information and kudos to the author. The second part deals with looking at actual asylums and experiences from contemporary staff and patients.

I liked the book and its quirky format but I found it difficult to connect personally with the book. I'm not sure why, as it seems like the type of book I would not be able to put down which is why I've rated it 3.5 stars out of 5.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Pen and Sword, for an E-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.