It's not mental health...it's mental hell.
Esme Smith is feeling old, tired and confused. She’s cut her arm and needs stitches, but can’t find the damned A&E department in her local hospital. After a wasted hour wandering the hallways, she simply wants to go home.
Charge Nurse Julie Simpson would love to send her home; it’s Friday night and she’s over-run with drunken students and other assorted imbeciles. However, Julie’s boss, the inimitable Dr Suzannah Bailey, has other ideas. She doesn’t believe Esme hurt herself accidentally. A serious collection of scars hints at a history of self-harm and suicidality in the elderly patient. Julie begs Esme for the truth but the elderly lady can’t, or won’t, co-operate.
Suzannah detains Esme in the busy A&E department, refusing to hand her over to the relevant staff and risking her all-important career for reasons she’s determined to keep secret. As Suzannah’s behaviour spirals out of control, Julie’s left wondering why Dr Bailey’s acting crazier than her patient.
HOSPITAL CORNERS, complete at 78,000 words, explores the issues surrounding mental illness from multiple viewpoints: sufferers, families, doctors and friends. It is a work of commercial/women’s fiction and is similar in style to books by Jodi Picoult.