A Bed with a View

It began life as Peter Bennett's journal, a straight-forward account of his experiences as a patient on the ward of a typical NHS hospital in the course of several extended visits starting in 2018. It gradually morphed into something rather different. It became an ever more complex and interesting book; emerging as a vivid, unflinching, by turns painful, angry, moving and hilarious memoir of this time. This is a story filled with touching and comical memories and incidents. It gives unblinking insights into the reality of the NHS today, showing how it functions and sometimes fails to function. It is partly a state-of-the-nation piece but is also far more than this. It is something richer and more substantive, offering the reader a fragmentary autobiography, a colourful recollection of Peter’s life as a successful lawyer and failed comedian. And ultimately it is a guide of sorts for those coming of age today, and a source of wit and wisdom for anyone shrewd enough to seek out, or fortunate enough to stumble upon, this richly entertaining book. It is a deeply personal, accessible, moving and wise piece of work.