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The Minotaur Hunt
A winner of the MIND Book of the Year Award, this is a present-day story with a legendary model. To the people of Crete, the Minotaur was traditionally a creature of darkness and horror. Locked in a labyrinth where no-one could see him, he became the scapegoat for everyone's worst imaginable nightmares and terrors.
Chrissie and Rachel are Minotaurs. They meet in Bradley, a rambling Victorian institution for the mentally ill. As the novel unfolds and their respective stories are gradually revealed, their growing relationship becomes a rich source of shared experience and a focus for their deepening knowledge of themselves.
The Minotaur Hunt is an arresting story of modern society which draws on some of the most evocative qualities of myth-making. In its fearless exploration into some of the darkest areas of human experience, it strikingly portrays the complexities and difficulties of human communication in a powerful and moving narrative which is both disturbing and honest, captivating and profound.
This is a revised edition of the novel with a new Afterword by the author.
Chrissie and Rachel are Minotaurs. They meet in Bradley, a rambling Victorian institution for the mentally ill. As the novel unfolds and their respective stories are gradually revealed, their growing relationship becomes a rich source of shared experience and a focus for their deepening knowledge of themselves.
The Minotaur Hunt is an arresting story of modern society which draws on some of the most evocative qualities of myth-making. In its fearless exploration into some of the darkest areas of human experience, it strikingly portrays the complexities and difficulties of human communication in a powerful and moving narrative which is both disturbing and honest, captivating and profound.
This is a revised edition of the novel with a new Afterword by the author.
216 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 18
1 person is currently reading
7 people want to read
About the author
Miriam Hastings
6 books2 followersMy first novel, The Minotaur Hunt, was published by the Harvester Press and won the MIND Book of the Year Award, a revised edition with a new afterword is now available in paperback, and as an ebook on Kindle and Kobo. In 2010, I had a collection of short stories, Demon Lovers, shortlisted for the Scott Award (Salt publishing), some of these stories are published on Kindle as The Doll and other stories: Strange Tales. My historical novel, Walking Shadow, was published as a paperback in December 2019, under the name M W Hastings, by FeedARead. It is also available as an ebook on Kindle.
My most recent novel, The Dowager's Dream, was published in April 2023, as a paperback by FeedARead and also on Kindle.
In my writing, I’m interested in exploring the position and experience of the outsider.
For many years I worked in the mental health field, running therapeutic workshops for survivors of childhood trauma, running consultancy and personal development courses for mental health service clients, and training courses and workshops for mental health professionals.
For fifteen years I worked part-time for Birkbeck College, University of London, teaching a course for women in creative writing for personal development, and also teaching modern literature, and cross-cultural and postcolonial literature.
I'm disabled by congenital degenerative spine disease and heart problems so now I can only write using a dictaphone and voice recognition software.
My most recent novel, The Dowager's Dream, was published in April 2023, as a paperback by FeedARead and also on Kindle.
In my writing, I’m interested in exploring the position and experience of the outsider.
For many years I worked in the mental health field, running therapeutic workshops for survivors of childhood trauma, running consultancy and personal development courses for mental health service clients, and training courses and workshops for mental health professionals.
For fifteen years I worked part-time for Birkbeck College, University of London, teaching a course for women in creative writing for personal development, and also teaching modern literature, and cross-cultural and postcolonial literature.
I'm disabled by congenital degenerative spine disease and heart problems so now I can only write using a dictaphone and voice recognition software.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 14, 2018
I was drawn into this book from the very first page. Rachel is a 16-year-old girl who has a habit of escaping from everyday life whenever she feels like it. She simply curls up on her bed and waits for the boat to come and take her to the world she has created in her mind. It's a beautiful world, inhabited by elegant and sexless creatures who would like her to live with them permanently. Rachel cannot do this while she is still anchored to the real world, and her desire to do so results in her parents committing her to an institution for the mentally ill. At such a young age, Rachel is terrified and confused, but she gradually discovers true friendship among the other inmates, Chrissie, Rosie, Daniel and David. Rachel and Chrissie become particularly close, eventually realising that they have experienced similar trauma. This book is set in the 1980's, a time when the mentally ill were still treated quite badly in such places. The relationship they all had with the ward doctor made for some interesting reading. I could never quite decide if he was on their side or not, or simply manipulating them. This is a beautifully written book which gave characters I could truly care about and I thank the author for that. I felt like they were all real and I was part of their journey for the time I was immersed in their lives. There is a tragic ending for a few of the characters and hope and recovery for some of the others. I was desperate for things to turn out well for all of them! There are some fantastic characters in this book and some really thought-provoking issues dealt with. It really made me think all the way through. I also enjoyed the mythical element to it which at times provided a slight relief from the starkness of life inside the institution. A brave and wonderful book. I would love to read more from this author.
October 24, 2022
4.5 stars, but I would rather round up than round down.
In the mid 1980’s, I went with a small group to sing carols at the local psychiatric hospital. It was circular, with long spokes of corridors that met in the middle. Each spoke was a few hundred feet long, so to get from one ward to another, you had to traverse this long tunnel that disappeared in the distance. As Miriam states, these Victorian homes for the mad, were being phased out and only a couple of wards on the hospital I visited were still occupied, making it even more eerily empty and still.
I was taken back there with this book and the endless corridors of a similar hospital. It becomes the maze from which the patients escape or are released from. Set in the early 80’s, you hope that the descriptions of ‘treatment’ and ‘care’ are better today.
Centred around a 16 year old girl/woman hating her own body and the idea of sex, we are introduced to a group of patients who team together and try to support each other, not always for the better. Of course, it can be a disturbing read at times, but there are moments of humour: I enjoyed the elderly patient, Maud, sleeping through all group meetings but still awake enough to trip the doctors and nurses with her stick.
The ending is inevitable but there are happier endings for some. Miriam adds a postscript in this edition, saying where she thinks the different characters ended up in the years since the book was first written.
Troubling and recommended.
In the mid 1980’s, I went with a small group to sing carols at the local psychiatric hospital. It was circular, with long spokes of corridors that met in the middle. Each spoke was a few hundred feet long, so to get from one ward to another, you had to traverse this long tunnel that disappeared in the distance. As Miriam states, these Victorian homes for the mad, were being phased out and only a couple of wards on the hospital I visited were still occupied, making it even more eerily empty and still.
I was taken back there with this book and the endless corridors of a similar hospital. It becomes the maze from which the patients escape or are released from. Set in the early 80’s, you hope that the descriptions of ‘treatment’ and ‘care’ are better today.
Centred around a 16 year old girl/woman hating her own body and the idea of sex, we are introduced to a group of patients who team together and try to support each other, not always for the better. Of course, it can be a disturbing read at times, but there are moments of humour: I enjoyed the elderly patient, Maud, sleeping through all group meetings but still awake enough to trip the doctors and nurses with her stick.
The ending is inevitable but there are happier endings for some. Miriam adds a postscript in this edition, saying where she thinks the different characters ended up in the years since the book was first written.
Troubling and recommended.
December 3, 2017
Absolutely amazingly terrifying
The book intrigued me when the author was nominated for one of my Best Indie Titles of 2017 awards on my author blog, and the author was nice enough to share the story with me for a review. The first thing I had to do is figure out what the Minotaur was, and according to Greek mythology, it's a bull-headed monster. So, that definitely helped when starting this book. I'm a fan of Greek Myths, but do not know all the monsters, so this was also a learning experience. The story, however, was intriguing and wonderfully written. A modern day chilling story, with a mythical twists that brings in the old myths. Enter into the darkness of humanity and it all it's thrilling, and horrific talents. This is one of those captivating and riveting stories that you may want to read again and again. I see why it was recommended to me.
The book intrigued me when the author was nominated for one of my Best Indie Titles of 2017 awards on my author blog, and the author was nice enough to share the story with me for a review. The first thing I had to do is figure out what the Minotaur was, and according to Greek mythology, it's a bull-headed monster. So, that definitely helped when starting this book. I'm a fan of Greek Myths, but do not know all the monsters, so this was also a learning experience. The story, however, was intriguing and wonderfully written. A modern day chilling story, with a mythical twists that brings in the old myths. Enter into the darkness of humanity and it all it's thrilling, and horrific talents. This is one of those captivating and riveting stories that you may want to read again and again. I see why it was recommended to me.
Read
November 4, 2014Miriam Hastings' The Minotaur Hunt is an engrossing novel set in a mental health institution and in the minds of some of its patients. It was first published by Harvester Press in 1987 and won the 1988 Mind Book of the Year award from the eponymous mental health charity. It was republished on Kindle by the author with an Afterword in December 2013, nearly 15 years after it went out of print along with the rest of Harvester's fiction catalogue after the Simon and Schuster take-over.
The story is set in a rambling London mental health institution in 1982. It is mostly centred on the character of teenage patient Rachel and her interior thoughts, but also on the lives and thoughts of other young patients on her ward. Hastings presents a positive image of mental illness but a negative one of the ward staff. The staff are not presented in as dark a light as those of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but it remains a negative view of these large-scale mental health institutions. Interestingly, the British government closed down these Victorian institutions within a decade of the original publication date of this novel.
The positive portrayal is very well done, yet it does not pull any punches about the difficulties faced by those with serious mental illness, akin to the tone of (the non-fictional) My Mad Fat Diary. The depictions of mental illness in Minotaur Hunt may make difficult reading for those who have experienced such difficulties or had close friends or relatives going through such problems. Nevertheless, I welcome the republication of Hastings' novel as it is deals sensitively with a truth that needs to be told and a fictional telling can often get the root of the issue in a way that non-fiction cannot. The British mental health system might have moved on from these large-scale institutions, but it is important to recognise that they continue to exist in some parts of the world and it is good to be reminded of the limitations of this approach to healthcare.
Readers should find The Minotaur Hunt a worthwhile read if they enjoy a good fictional representation of mental illness that does not shirk from the more difficult issues.
The story is set in a rambling London mental health institution in 1982. It is mostly centred on the character of teenage patient Rachel and her interior thoughts, but also on the lives and thoughts of other young patients on her ward. Hastings presents a positive image of mental illness but a negative one of the ward staff. The staff are not presented in as dark a light as those of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but it remains a negative view of these large-scale mental health institutions. Interestingly, the British government closed down these Victorian institutions within a decade of the original publication date of this novel.
The positive portrayal is very well done, yet it does not pull any punches about the difficulties faced by those with serious mental illness, akin to the tone of (the non-fictional) My Mad Fat Diary. The depictions of mental illness in Minotaur Hunt may make difficult reading for those who have experienced such difficulties or had close friends or relatives going through such problems. Nevertheless, I welcome the republication of Hastings' novel as it is deals sensitively with a truth that needs to be told and a fictional telling can often get the root of the issue in a way that non-fiction cannot. The British mental health system might have moved on from these large-scale institutions, but it is important to recognise that they continue to exist in some parts of the world and it is good to be reminded of the limitations of this approach to healthcare.
Readers should find The Minotaur Hunt a worthwhile read if they enjoy a good fictional representation of mental illness that does not shirk from the more difficult issues.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews