A remarkable range of family-history related reads

Life in the Victorian Asylum

by Mark Stevens

The reissue of this book is most welcome. Mark Stevens does a good job in bringing to life the Victorian public asylum and the 19th-century approach to mental illness. The majority of the book is written in the present tense, as if it were a contemporary Victorian handbook for an asylum. It outlines to the prospective inpatient and their family what might be expected in terms of how the patient will be admitted. It also describes the asylum accommodation, the types of diagnosis, and the typical daily routine, treatment and care. The types of staff at the asylum are discussed together with their roles, and an explanation is given about what