Anne Buist and Graeme Simsion on a mental health story of heart and humour, 'The Glass House'

Good Reading Podcast

Psychiatry registrar Doctor Hannah Wright, a country girl with a chaotic history, thought she had seen it all in the emergency room. But that was nothing compared to the psychiatric ward at Menzies Hospital. Hannah must learn on the job in a strained medical system, as she and her fellow trainees deal with the common and the bizarre, the hilarious and the tragic, the treatable and the confronting. Every day brings new patients: Chloe, who has a life-threatening eating disorder; Sian, suffering postpartum psychosis and fighting to keep her baby; and Xavier, the MP whose suicide attempt has an explosive story behind it. All the while, Hannah is trying to figure out herself. In this episode Gregory Dobbs talks to Anne Buist and Graeme Simsion about the importance of shining a light on the frontline of mental health through fiction, exploring the challenges of illness and treatment for both patients and professionals, and giving a voice to the spectrum of people dealing with mental illness.