Review by Stacey O’Carroll
Author: Anne Buist and Graeme Simsion
Publisher: Hachette
RRP: $32.99
Release Date: 27 March 2024
“If I’d wanted an image to sum up everything that’s disturbed me in my first three weeks of acute psychiatry at Menzies Hospital – and, in a strange way, what I’ve loved about it – I have it now.”
What if you could see the inner workings of a hospital psychiatry ward? In Anne Buist and Graeme Simsion’s latest joint novel, The Glass House, readers are taken into the acute psychiatry ward at Menzies Hospital and explore how psychiatrists deal with their patients and their own trauma. These mental health doctors are often seen as impervious, yet Buist and Simsion remind readers of psychiatrists’ fallibility and humanity.
“The staff base is crowded with computers, chairs and filing cabinets, with a reception desk at the entrance. Windows on all sides, like a fish tank…So it’s now the glass house.”
At the centre of The Glass House is Dr Hannah Wright, a junior doctor trying to find her place within acute psychiatry at the fictional Menzies Hospital. Hannah must juggle prickly relationships with senior doctors, some challenging patients and her unconventional family. With each shift, Hannah is confronted with hilarious and tragic patients, some of whom she realises are let down by the politics, business and logistics of hospital beds.
“It’s not easy keeping up a conversation while there are voices in your head.”
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. Psychiatrist Buist’s knowledge and experience bring nuance and realism to the fictional characters. The story takes readers on an emotional rollercoaster alongside the struggling protagonist and patients.
“A slight woman in a Tweety Bird nightie and untied blue satin dressing-gown is walking down the white hallway of the Mental Health Service’ Acute Unit, flanked by two uniformed police officers.”
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. Whether patients or staff, the reader cares about their struggles and outcomes thanks to Buist and Simsion’s beautiful writing. 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.
“Avoid getting your head bitten off and earn a badge of honour for getting through the night without help.”
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. It would be easy to write pages and pages on why The Glass House is an important and stunning novel, but readers need to experience the story for themselves. Buist’s knowledge, combined with Simsion’s unique and endearing storytelling, creates a brilliant and immersive must-read novel.