Stranger Than Kindness

by Mark A. Radcliffe

STRANGER THAN KINDNESS is funny, poignant, intelligent and compelling.I believe books are like stepping into little alternative worlds floating in your mind and this world was one I wanted to stay in much longer.' Jo Brand. It is 1989 and Community Care is about to reboot the industry of psychiatry. In a soon-to-be-closed asylum a bruised nurse, Adam Sands, is feeling less like a purveyor of kindness and more like a concentration camp guard with every passing drink. Many years later Adam has got used to the quiet life when his past finds him. Maybe this time he can do some good. Even make a diference. But redemption, like magic, can come from the strangest of places.

Genres: Mental Health, Fiction, Contemporary

354 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 8, 2013

About the author

Mark A. Radcliffe is the author of three novels, Gabriel's Angel (2010) and Stranger Than Kindness (2013), both published by Bluemoose and a collection of short stories, Superpowers (2020) published by Valley Press.

His third novel, Three Gifts (2023) was published by Epoque Press

He is currently the Subject Lead for Creative Writing at West Dean College of Art and Conservation. Prior to that he worked as a nurse, a health journalist/columnist and a senior lecturer in mental health practice and nursing. He lives in Hove with his wife Kate and swims in the sea a lot. His daughter Maia does not swim in the sea a lot but is a faster swimmer than he is anyway. He's ok with that...no, really.

Reviews

[Paul Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is an engaging pace to this story that at first summons you innocently by whispering gently as you read the first few chapters. But by then, the characters - their voices and behaviours - have worked their way under your Hawaiian shirt and then you just want to know, what, why and by whom. But then the book shifts gear, just as you have learnt to adjust your stride. Mark Radcliffe does this with a sensitive pacing and with a critical voice that accompanies your exploration of the many questions that unveil themselves throughout the book. What is madness? What - if anything - separates the patient from the carer? What can state health care really prioritise in these neo-liberal times ? These and a series of personal evolutions and challenges keep your attention till the last page, and then beyond.

[Snoakes · Rating 5 out of 5]

We're not even halfway into January yet, and I think I may have just finished the best book I'll read this year.  This novel begins in the late eighties in a psychiatric hospital and then the second section catches up with some of the protagonists several years later in 2013.  I was really sad when the first section ended, but also relieved - it was tearing my heart out.  I'm not sure I could have coped with a whole book that wrenched at my heartstrings that much all the way through.  The second section is just as engrossing but less of an emotional rollercoaster.  I can't stress enough just how good this book is and I suspect I will be banging on about it all year - be warned.  If you liked The Shock of the Fall and/or Scarlett Thomas, then give it a go.   

[Gael Impiazzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel got off to a good start. I enjoyed the first section - 1989, set in one of the big old psychiatric institutions just as they are being closed down and patients moved out into 'care in the community'. Radcliffe touches on some interesting issues regarding disability and mental health, and the way they are treated. But then when the story moves to the present it morphs into a fairly weak conspiracy theory that was neither social comment nor political thriller. It just didn't quite get there for me.
A shame that it didn't live up to its initial promise.

[Cara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book - especially the first section. I found the second section a little harder to get through, but it kept me hooked nonetheless. Interesting insight into the history of an industry I'll be working in following qualification from university.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

As someone who was briefly a mental health nurse, I could tell the author was one, too. I've not read anything that captures the job and the people you meet in it so perfectly.

I found the characters engaging, and loved the calm, reflective spirit of the book. I didn't like the research conspiracy so much, but the characters, writing, and atmosphere were good enough for me to look past it.

[Louise · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was quite enjoying the story of the lunatics and their asylum in the eighties, the patients, their problems, the staff and their problems, trying to discharge as many as possible into care and the community..
And then rather unexpectedly, it became twenty years later and a big conspiracy, cover up, mystery....
Wasn't expected, wasn't needed. ...felt disjointed.

[Pamela Fellows · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absorbing book

Unusual and interesting, fairly frightening as well, I am sure this sort of thing does happen
Good characters that you care about.

[ayesha · Rating 3 out of 5]

took a few tried to get hooked, but a subtle and fresh plot with major foreshadowing

[Bookwormthings · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a British context story and a story of two halves. It is at it's strongest with it's depiction of the various mentally interesting staff of a psychiatric hospital as they prepare their longstay patients for "Care in the Community". The second part consists of a conspiracy theory thriller as the people meet up again. This second part set in 2013 is weaker and although you care about the people the conspiracy feels rather more like political comment, which is actually much more successfully depicted through the first part. If I was marking just the first portion of the book I would give it four stars because that was the best bit. The slightly pedestrian second part for me brings it down.

[Martin Poetz · Rating 4 out of 5]

The narration of the audiobook by Nathaniel Tapley is very well done. The story is pretty engaging, I found it a little hard to follow at times and left me utterly confused at the end though. I think I have to listen to this book again.

[Rachel Halls · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really rather good book. The first Mark Radcliffe book I have read and I will now definitely read more of his work off the back of this.

[Alison Millar · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is another good book from the Blue Moose stable. I enjoyed the story set in the eighties. The psychiatric ward setting is disturbing, although I suspect, very realistic for the time.