“England is at war but Rowan’s own battle is only just beginning.”

Rowan the Strange is a tale of sadness and perseverance, by Julie Hearn. The novel is set in wartime Britain and as Britain prepares for battle against the Nazis 13 year-old Rowan has his own battle to face. Rowan has a mental illness called manic schizophrenia; he hears a voice inside his head that tells him to do things he knows are wrong. Rowan, unaware of his illness, breaks his sister’s fingers in one of his ‘panics’. After having a second panic, which results in him attempting to stab a police officer, his family decide to send him to a hospital in Kent. This is where he is diagnosed with schizophrenia.

‘The splatter of ink was minuscule, like a spray of fairy blood. The man wielding the pen blotted it, carefully, before continuing to write: Schizophrenia.’

Hearn does not just delve into Rowan's mind, but she also explores the minds of the acting physician, a German physiatrist called Doctor Von Metzer, the nurses and working staff and other patients going through similar experiences to Rowan.

Rowan is a test case in the hospital. The hospital is leading the development of electroconvulsive therapy as a means of curing the mind of ills. Electroconvulsive therapy is a controversial psychiatric treatment in which you send high voltage shocks through the brain in order to rid a patient of mental illness. Leading this experiment is Doctor Von Metzer, sometime referred to in the novel as ‘Doctor Von’. He comes to Britain from Germany in order to conduct the experiment but as you delve further into the novel you realise the sinister goings-on of Hitler’s Germany and what is happening to Von’s patients back in Germany:

‘The children looked so innocent clutching their red candles [...] Von Metzer, his gut tightening because of the candles, sat up straighter on the bed and trawled his memory for the correct interpretation of plain, glass baubles [...] carbon monoxide. Clear, odourless and deadly’ 

Hearne, while also writing a fictional novel, also gives you an accurate image of the Second World War not through just British but German eyes also. Hearne uses wartime slang such as ‘Jerry’ meaning a German person and she does not stereotype all the Germans as bad people. In the novel Doctor Von is a nice caring person who happens to be German but unfortunately the British public don’t notice that because of the fact he is a ‘Jerry’:

'A male nurse, sitting right next to Sid, had muttered “bloody Nazi spy,” halfway through the show, loud enough for everyone sitting around him to hear.’

The book was a real page-turner and a joy to read, and as Rowan progressed and grew as a character Hearne really taught me that people with mental illness do not always fit the stereotype given to them. Although at times it lacked sense and was difficult to get your head around I would still recommend it. Because of this, I give this book a 9/10.