The Psychiatric Ward at Menzies Hospital.

This is a quirky story with a unique writing style
Dr Hannah Wright is a trainee psychiatrist. She is trying to figure herself out, as well as the value in her career choice.

Hannah does this as she deals with:

- a new manager who is somewhat frustrated with all of the team
- a boss whose faith is in the meds
- a higher boss who wants to focus on options other than meds
- relationship dramas
- her own complicated past
- fellow trainees
- a revolving door of constant patients in various situations

This book was interesting and there were parts I felt caught up in and others that dragged.

I think the writing style threw me a bit as it felt like a rambling and somewhat cluttered account of one person's chaotic life.

However, I did enjoy the individual stories, particularly of the patients within the text.

Overall though this story would likely interest many and I appreciated it.

The Glass House is a book about a trainee psychiatrist, the difficulties and challenges, but also how huge the wins can be. The book also shows how important the work is for the patient, for everyone who knows them, and for the community.

More importantly, it's a book about people and their mental health. That's the people who are working on it professionally, personally, or both. It's a good book with realistic characters and (given the authors' backgrounds) realistic settings and situations. And this is what makes it an important book.

I can't say it was a fun read, but it was enjoyable as medical fiction, and I did like reading it. I found the depiction of acute mental health services, and the different professions that can be found, quite interesting. It would certainly be useful for someone considering working in the area, and also for those directly or indirectly dealing with mental health issues.

Many thanks to Hachette ANZ and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book.

This was such a fascinating story. There was so much happening but it never felt cluttered or like the authors had stretched themselves.

Hannah is a trainee psychiatrist working at the Menzies Hospital in Melbourne. She originally started in emergency medicine but switched to psychiatric care and this book primarily follows Hannah and her colleagues as they deal with several patients and the different methods each of them employ or favour, from prescribing medication to psychotherapy to psychological counselling. The patients are Sian, who presents with post-partum psychosis, Chloe who is a long time anorexia nervosa patient, and Xavier, an MP who attempted to take his own life. The man whose truck he stepped in front of, must also be counselled to make sure that he himself is suffering no ill effects from the incident. Hannah and her colleagues (including those that form a tightknit group outside the hospital, meeting weekly to debrief and exchange treatment advice and ideas) are constantly under pressure in terms of playing musical beds – there’s never enough to go around for those who truly need it.

I don’t know anything about mental health care, other than reading about how difficult it can be for people to get the help they need in a system that struggles to keep up with the load. I really appreciated this glimpse into that public system from the point of view of those treating but in a way that also showcases the patient. Each of the patients featured here are very different and so are their prognosis. For example, Sian’s post-partum psychosis is seen as a condition that can be managed in care with her baby until she is well enough to return home. It will require support – and this book shows how family can sometimes not be that support, even though they are wanting to do the right thing. They don’t understand how Sian could’ve done what she did and how they can be valuable in supporting her to care for the baby. On the other hand we have Chloe, who has been hospitalised frequently for a lengthy period of time with anorexia. Her entire family revolve around her and her illness and she is into her thirties and her parents have refused to see the effects this has had on Chloe’s younger sister. Hannah is invited into observe the therapy that Chloe and her family undertake and I found this approach absolutely fascinating.

I enjoyed the character of Hannah and her background, which is slowly revealed to the reader. It was certainly an interesting one and shed a bit of light on why Hannah might’ve chosen to pursue the medical path she did when emergency medicine didn’t work out for her originally. I also really loved the group of staff that began having weekly meetings revolving around at each of their houses where they talked about their patients, the weeks they’d had, the bosses and politics at work. They were a different mix of people and I enjoyed their conversations and the interactions they had with each other. There’s kind of a hint of a romance in here too with Hannah and a colleague but mostly if you squint and it never takes up much of the story.

I really felt like this was told with empathy but without shying away from the problems that arise in treating mental illness and the struggles the system has. There’s some gentle humour too and I also felt very grounded in the Melbourne setting. Would highly recommend this although I would also issue a soft caution to check whether or not you’re in a place to read about people experiencing these sorts of issues, such as post-partum psychosis, disordered eating, suicidal ideation, etc.

8/10

The Glass House by Anne Buist and Graeme Simsion is an extraordinary novel that could easily come across as non-fiction. The realistic exploration of a mental institution and those who work there or are suffering an episode or crisis is extremely confronting. The psychiatric unit in the Menzies Hospital is where we find trainee psychiatrist Doctor Hannah Wright who faces the reality of the trauma of mental crises which is challenging, not only for the patient, other patients but all those who work there.

This novel isn’t for the feint hearted but it is worth the journey. It is genuinely authentic.

Highly recommended read.

This review is based on a complimentary copy from Hachette Australia via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

#TheGlassHouse #NetGalley

This book felt like a journey, at the start I had no idea what was going on, there were lots of characters. The alternate character pov was clearly marked but I missed the changing text, leading to some confusion. However, as the journey progressed, I was on board for the long haul. This book is almost impossible to put down, and I had no desire to.

The scene is the Menzie's psychiatric ward in a major hospital, facing the expected struggles of a mental health ward. Not enough beds in the right places, junior doctors working crazy hours, difficult bosses and patients with complex issues and needs. The story follows Hannah as she and her colleagues navigate their way through the narrative, making blunders along the way, some with devastating consequences.

All of the patients felt real. I especially struggled with Brianna's story as it hit very close to home, watching a friend go through similar things with her family. The author has written an excellent story, wholly deserving of more than 5 stars.

3.5 ⭐️

Medical based storylines are new to me and I enjoyed this one! For a reader who doesn’t have any experience in the psychological profession, I found it quite insightful. The mental health representation was well done and while a serious subject matter, I appreciated the authors ability to integrate witty humour to lighten the plot. A standout for me were the cases but I think there were a few too many as I found it quite difficult to keep on top of all of the characters. Overall, a good read that I would recommend if you are looking to try something new!

Thank you to Netgalley and Hachette Australia for the opportunity to review this digital advanced readers copy.

Buist and Simsion's The Glass House is an entertaining and important work of fiction that highlights not only those dealing with mental health disorders but also those who work tirelessly and ignore their own trauma to help their patients. At the centre of The Glass House is Dr Hannah Wright, a junior doctor who is trying to find her place within acute psychiatry at the fictional Menzies Hospital. The Glass House brings to life with compassion the challenges of dealing with mental health disorders through complex characters whom we all may have met at some stage. Although the subject matter is sometimes tough, and there are obvious trigger warnings for some readers, The Glass House balances the confronting scenes with humour and heart. Buist and Simsion’s exceptionally well-researched work of fiction will no doubt help to break down further the stigma and misconceptions about both sides of mental health care. The novel is a reminder we should all move through life with compassion.

(NB: expanded to review to come online when our next issue is published)

When I started this book I was not sure at all what I had got myself into. There were so many characters to meet and sort out in my mind plus the writing style is unusual. Hard to describe but it seems to roll onwards all the time like a train, with no obvious places to stop and get off. Pretty soon though I had no desire to stop because it became totally gripping.

The scene is a psychiatric ward in a major hospital, peopled with trainees like Hannah, bosses with attitude, specialists with widely diverging ideas on treatment practices and a stream of patients with very sad issues. Sadly the whole profession does not come out of this very well, largely because it is a field where results are not clean cut and occasionally not even possible. It seems to be an area where guidelines are constantly changing as methods evolve which causes much debate over how to treat each individual.

We follow some of the patients from just prior to their arrival in the psych ward to what happens after they leave. There is hope for some, not for others. It is realistic, no idealism here. The Butterfly Foundation does provide some hope, as does the quality of some of the doctors and the efforts they go to.

I was totally absorbed by each patient and the events surrounding them, loved the clinical sessions and really enjoyed Hannah and her fellow trainees. The author has all the right qualifications to write this book and she has done it brilliantly. Five stars.

This had such promise but the characters felt so two dimensional. We got to know the patients of the glass ward well but I don't feel that I knew, liked, or could even get a read on the main psychiatrist. We were given so little access to her emotions. There was a promising romance that amounted to next to nothing because we got so little insight into the characters. The ending felt complete but the lead up to it was messy and confusing. I really wanted to like this book.

I didn't mind this book, but it felt much more like a non-fiction medical memoir rather than a novel, with more focus on the psychiatric conditions rather than a plot or character focused storyline. I have an interest in the field so I enjoyed it, but would have preferred more of a conventionally 'fiction' narrative.

The actual medical information seemed very sound though (the worst thing is when a medical fiction book, especially one regarding mental health, is incorrect or damaging). There were a couple of minor issues with mental health rep but overall it was managed well.

I think if you weren't interested in medical memoirs or psychiatric illness, this book wouldn't be as appealing.

The Glass House by Anne Buist and Graeme Simsion is a book that I was fully engaged by and read every moment I could. At times it was difficult for me to get my head around all the characters, but the more I read on the more I remembered about each.

It's one of those books you come away from and realise you've been given the gift of experiencing something outside your own experience. This is a book about the mental health system, the people who suffer from complex mental issues and the professionals who bring their own expertise plus their own human failings.

The character telling most of the story is Hannah, a registrar working in the acute mental ward. So far she is working there without being a doctor incorporated into the actual training  programme for the registrars. The Professor in charge has refused her entry.

Personally I really liked Hannah as a character, if I had a mental illness, I'd be grateful for her care. Yes she is human with all the frailties that brings, she has family of origin issues that cause her  much heartache and have led her to wanting to work in the psychiatry medical area. She questions herself over her choice and it wasn't to the very end that we find out what she decides and why.

This is a serious book, there are not too much funny moments, though being a Kiwi I was able to chuckle at one such moment. However it is a book that touched my heart.

I would certainly recommend it, and I know I myself will want to read it again.

I enjoyed The Glass House, but didn't find it a 'couldn't put down book' and often found myself distracted. We follow Dr Hannah Wright, trainee psychiatrist, as she goes about seeing her patients. We get to know a bit about her colleagues, and her flatmate and family. I enjoyed the support the registrars gave each other and found the support group dinners fun. There are many different characters with different mental health illnesses and you could tell it seemed like a realistic representation of both the illnesses and the working conditions. I would have liked perhaps less characters but more indepth into the ones we had.
I choose to read this book as I really enjoyed The Rosie Project trilogy by Graeme Simsion, but it was very different, so maybe not quite what I was expecting.

This was a really insightful read, written almost like a non-fiction case study where everything is presented very factually, and we're not led to experience any of our characters' emotions, only their actions. The book has a really serious educational element on mental health and the hospital politics surrounding diagnosis and treatment and it's clear all the book happenings are well researched and come from experience. The book was definitely really enlightening to read but unfortunately not for me as I prefer books with stronger story-telling.

I often struggle to provide star ratings - I don't struggle to provide opinions, but star ratings seem like they are pretending to be objective, when, like opinions, they are entirely subjective. I am giving this book 5 stars, based on the fact that I couldn't stop reading it. It was compelling. The intersecting storylines were fascinating and the medical stuff was interesting, particularly in relation to some of previous "young doctor" books I have read (like Emotional Female) . There are things I could criticise (like the strange shift in perspective near the end from first to third person) but I'm not going to, because I just want to think about these people and what happened, like they are my friends.
I will say - this book is set in Melbourne, but it's an imaginary Melbourne. There is no Menzies Hospital, there is no Parkrun in the East near the river (I think) the streets mentioned are generic (High Street, anyone?). That is fine, but I do love it when a book has a strong sense of place.

Thanks kindly to NetGalley and Hachette Australia and New Zealand for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

The Glass House follows Dr Hannah Wright, a trainee psychiatrist working in the Acute Unit at Menzies Hospital and the patients she encounters. Dr Wright was rejected into the trainee program and is trying even harder to get accepted but she must prove herself to her boss without losing herself. The patients that present to her are from all walks of life. There’s a new mum with postpartum psychosis who hid her baby, a woman with life-threatening anorexia nervosa who wasn’t supposed to be in the acute unit and a member of parliament who attempted suicide. As well as patients we are introduced to family members, bystanders and other hospital staff, each who have their own perceptions of mental health. Whilst Dr Wright works towards helping her patients she must also deal (or not) with her own trauma which prevents her from getting to where she wants to be.

The Glass House follows a tv-medical-drama structure but is so much more than just entertainment. I really enjoyed the structure and was excited to be introduced to a new patient each chapter. Although each chapter introduced the reader to a new patient, the patients’ journeys are not limited to that chapter and how they all intertwine is captivating. It did get a little confusing at times with how many characters there were, particularly the hospital staff. It was refreshing to be given insight into mental illness from a clinical perspective rather than from the person with the mental illness. I found the different attitudes and bias’ held by doctors about patients to be intriguing. The camaraderie between Dr Wright and the other trainees was heartwarming. I wish this was always the case for health professionals. The novel is a great reminder that healthcare staff are human, that they have flaws and are always still learning. Buist and Simsion give an authentic portrayal of the relationships between patients and their families. If you’re looking for perfect familial relations in times of adversity, you will not find in these stories. Despite the large cast, there is so much depth to Dr Wrights character, from her own trauma to workplace conflict, family drama and love life. Although set in a hospital, the novel is not full of medical jargon and is easy to read. The dark humour makes the stories easier to digest. Overall I really loved this book and look forward to reading more stories from the Menzies Mental Health series in the future.

The Glass House follows Hannah, a psychiatry registrar working on an acute care ward, as she navigates and reflects upon the experiences of patients, and staff within the hospital.

The story is rich with characters and captures the experience of patients, family and health workers with a frank honesty. At times the number of threads felt almost too much to follow, reflecting the very real experience of navigating mental health care within Australia.

Individual case stories at the start of each chapter appear standalone but gradually weave together, highlighting that psychiatry and psychology is a challenging, necessary and often unknown endeavour. The story highlights the enduring impact of trauma, relationships, loss and suicide, as well as the role of personal choice, and experiences within and beyond therapy and treatment.

The narrative was reflective, and left space for the reader to draw their own conclusions as they followed Hannah. The fictional cases and the behaviour of the various characters felt authentic and genuine. Whilst the subject matter was at times heavy, it was handled with sensitivity and did not feel gratuitous. The authors note summarises significant consultation and collaboration with health professionals and people with lived experience in the development of the book.

Thank you Hachette and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed are my own.

For someone who doesn't have much knowledge of what's its like in the medical field and dealing with different mental illnesses this book definitely gives an insight to what it is like.

Each character that came into view in the book definitely got me thinking that I was in their shoes and what I could have done if I was them.

Thank you hachette for letting me read an early copy of this book and I can't wait for it to be published

‘Acute psychiatry is the emergency medicine of mental health: for the stuff nobody saw coming.’

Twenty-seven-year-old Hannah Wright is a registrar at the Acute Psychiatric Ward at the fictional Menzies Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. Hannah is hoping to be accepted into the psychiatric training program despite having been rejected once. It’s a difficult task Hannah has set herself: impossible hours, in a medical system strained to breaking point complicated by politics and differing views about effective treatments. Hannah and her colleagues are all working under pressure.

In this novel, the authors take us into the worlds of both therapists and patients. We are with Hannah as she negotiates challenges of her own. We meet several patients fighting their own battles. Three who have remained with me are Chloe, with life-threatening anorexia nervosa; Sian suffering postpartum psychosis; and Xavier, an MP, who has attempted suicide. No patient can be treated in isolation. History is key, as is family composition and dynamics. The deeper I read into the novel, the more important these factors become.

I read this novel as someone who has experienced two sides of mental health care. My brief experience as a student nurse introduced me to the complexities of care, while periods as an inpatient over a period of forty years have been both helpful and overwhelming.

This novel reminds me that caregivers are human (and fallible), that mental health issues are rarely straightforward. Diagnosis and treatment can resemble untying a Gordian knot. Not all endings can be happy. The novel finishes with various author acknowledgments, including:

‘The Glass House was inspired by the courage of patients and the dedication of mental health workers who deal with issues which are often poorly understood, inadequately resourced, and for which there are few complete solutions. We hope this book will contribute to a better recognition of the challenges they face.’

As do I. I read, I learned, I remembered.

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

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

Wife & Husband duo Anne & Graeme’s latest novel follows trainee psychiatrist Hannah working in a psychiatric ward. The author Anne works in psychiatry herself which I found really interesting going into this book because even though this is a work of fiction, it really gives depth to the main character and her experiences. The bulk of The Glass House follows various patients from presentation to diagnosis to treatment (in the middle it started to feel a bit formulaic and repetitive but it didn’t slow me down too much!) as Hannah tries to prove herself to the powers that be and genuinely help those at their lowest in a broken healthcare system.

All the while, just like anyone else, she is dealing with workplace conflict, the interference of others, dating, and figuring herself out in a life where you seldom ‘come first’. Hannah and the other hospital staff were all fleshed-out characters with a clear purpose, a couple did feel a little one-note but I believe this is because the authors wanted to focus on the complexity of the patients instead and I’m perfectly happy with that compromise. Speaking of the patients, a wide range of psychological illnesses are covered in this book including eating disorders, postpartum psychosis and schizophrenia so just be mindful of triggers. I think the patients and their family members were incredibly layered for the most part with a couple of minor exceptions who are a bit forgettable.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I consider it very unique! Of all the books I’ve read set in a mental health institution/ward, this is possibly the only one that isn’t from a patient’s perspective and the detail that the authors could incorporate from lived experience really elevated it. This book has shimmers of humour and I also found it pretty philosophical, it makes you think about the way we treat and think about mental illness and how many people are affected when a loved one suffers.

3.5 stars

We follow our main character, Hannah a couple of weeks into her registry in the Mental Health Unit at Menzies Hospital as she gets experience to get into the psychiatric training program. Throughout we hear many stories from patients going through some of the worst moments of their life and gives us a real insight as to what happens in a mental health unit.

This was quite an eye-opening book! It really shows what goes on behind the scenes at a hospital using diverse characters. The story flowed well and had many subplots which really added to the overarching story.

The only thing I had an issue with was the many, many characters, some of which didn't have a lot of depth and were mentioned constantly but we never got to understand what they were going through/their background.

Overall, it was a really interesting book which I wouldn't have picked up usually so thank you to Netgalley and Hachette for sending me a copy of this one to review. If you're considering picking this one up, please check the trigger warnings as this book deals with some heavy stuff.