Goodreads asked Mick Finlay:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Mick Finlay The idea came from a number of places. First, I used to work in services for adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities (learning disabilities in the UK), including in some of the old Victorian hospitals that used to be asylums. I've always been concerned by the exploitation of people who have some form of vulnerability. Then recently there have been a few cases of modern slavery in the UK which really appalled me. Developing the book involved a lot of research into the asylum system of the 1890s as well as the Victorian understandings of mental health problems and disability.

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