The Curative

William Lonsdale, in his fifties and once a rich man of fashion, is held in chains against the wall of Bedlam, the London asylum, in the reign of George III. He is hosed with cold water, fed poor food and put through the cures of the day, with a silent cell-mate, Horatio, and a warden, Porlock, for company, while his family have abandoned him. Lucid and cynical, he muses on freedom, love and lost love and the brevity of happiness, and bit by bit lets slip what he once did and why he has been locked up. The book is arranged in three parts, 'The Middle', 'The Beginning' and 'The End', and works as a historical mystery.

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About the book

Form

Novel

Genres

Historical, Crime (assigned by AI)

Set in

United Kingdom, early 19th century

First published

2000

ISBN

9780140297539 (Penguin Books, New Zealand)