In her latest novel, 98 Reasons for Being, Clare Dudman allows the reader inside the mind of Hannah, a Jewish girl who is wrongly diagnosed with nymphomania and is sent to Frankfurt's 'asylum for the insane'.
The story is set in the 19th century, a time when mental illnesses were little understood and prejudice had a significant part to play in the diagnosis of 'madness'.
Clare Dudman joins Jenni Murray in the studio to discuss her inspiration for the novel, putting a 'poetic gloss' on science, and the extent to which attitudes towards mental illness have changed since the 1800s.
98 Reasons for Being by Clare Dudman published by Sceptre ISBN: 0340823062
