Free From the World

The 1960s are meant to be progressive, but as a new psychiatrist to Black Roding, Ruth does not find the staff at the large London asylum so. Instead of encouraging her attempts to implement the asylum’s Superintendent’s ideas, the staff are strangely reluctant to progress the asylum’s ways. Challenged at every turn, Ruth is forced to turn to the patients – including Richard Simms, a middle-aged man who proves hard to categorise and seems to have no apparent records of his former life. 

Although she tries to help, Richard shuns her with an almost desperate denial, similar to the staff who stride the echoing corridors. Drawn to this anxious man, Ruth digs deeper into his story, eliciting a string of events that can never be buried again. Too late to turn back, Ruth is inexorably drawn into the web of Black Roding, remembering too late that the fly very rarely outwits the spider…

John Johnson was born and educated in East London and Essex near to one of the biggest London asylums, which piqued his interest in what went on behind the walls. After a degree in English, he taught in four London schools, was instrumental in establishing the GSCE and became a head teacher. He has a Masters degree in Creative Writing and is married with three children and still lives in Essex.