Main description:

Have you ever wondered what life was like for the thousands of ordinary people who experienced Victorian mental health care? Life in the Victorian Asylum is the story of those ordinary people. It details their daily routine, the treatments they were offered and the rules to which they had to conform.

Immerse yourself in the period detail of ward life. Meet the staff and other patients. Seek a diagnosis for your illness. Tour the hospital and take part in the activities on offer.

In Life in the Victorian Asylum, Mark Stevens reconstructs the lost world of the nineteenth century public asylums. Why were they built? Who were they for? And what is the legacy of these remarkable institutions? You may be surprised at what you discover.

Mark Stevens, the best-selling author of Broadmoor Revealed, is a professional archivist and expert on asylum records. In this book, he delves into Victorian mental health archives to recreate the experience of entering an asylum and being treated there, perhaps for a lifetime.

Praise for Broadmoor Revealed

Superb, Family Tree magazine

Detailed and thoughtful, Times Literary Supplement

Paints a fascinating picture, Who Do You Think You Are? magazine