Poppy Shakespeare - Clare Allan

Set in Dorothy Fish, a day patient ward which is part of the fictitious Abbadon Unit mental institution in North London, Poppy Shakespeare is a novel which takes a look at the British mental health service from the inside out and exposes some major flaws in the system. ~~~~~~~~ The Plot ~~~~~~~~ The story is told through the eyes of N, a patient on the Dorothy Fish ward for the last thirteen years. Along with a motley crew of other long term voluntary patients, they spend their days idling the time away by smoking and swapping medication and aiming to never get discharged. This routine is broken by the arrival of a new and extremely ...  Read the complete review

N, a patient at the Dorothy Fish Day Hospital in North London, is surprised one day to be asked to show new patient Poppy Shakespeare around. Reluctantly, N agrees, although she doesn't see why she should when she's only been a patient for thirteen years - some have been there for much longer. However, Poppy Shakespeare turns out to be a breath of fresh air - not only does she look good, but she is the only patient who can't wait to be discharged and she doesn't believe she should be there in the first place. Together with N, Poppy decides to fight the system so that she can be released before she really does go mad. The only problem is that in order to get ...  Read the complete review