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The Sleep Room: A Sadistic Psychiatrist and the Women Who Survived Him Audiobook
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The Sleep Room is thriller novelist Jon Stock's investigation into one of the most revered figures in British postwar medicine, the private world of the Sleep Room in Ward Five, and the science of the psychology that produced it.
Dr. William Sargant ran a lucrative private practice and published multiple books on psychiatry, and he was awarded the Starkey medal and prize by the Royal Society of Health for his work on psychiatric medicine. But what he was best known for was the apogee of his career: the Sleep Room in Ward Five.
This was a dark gallery where patients selected by Sargant were subjected to deep narcosis, sleeping for more than twenty-one hours per day for weeks at a time, and roused only for sessions of electroconvulsive therapy.
When his patients finished their treatment, they had lost not only memories of trauma, but also any sense of who they were or why they were there.
At least four of them died in the room. Between 1964 and 1972, hundreds of women were treated in the now-shuttered ward of the Royal Waterloo Hospital for Women and Children.
A group of survivors, now in their sixties and seventies, have come forward to share their stories and advocate for change.
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“A trio of narrators lend their considerable talents to this nonfiction work…Sargant was, by all accounts, an egotistical predator, and Richard Armitage’s smooth, level narration displays that perfectly as he describes lobotomies and electroconvulsive therapies without an iota of remorse. Celia Imrie, one of Sargant’s victims, narrates her own chapter of betrayal, abuse, and recovery. Antonia Beamish handles the narration for the other women who received these heinous treatments without their consent. Listeners will squirm as these narrators speak for the victims and revel in their eventual freedom—despite lasting ill effects.”
— AudioFile
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About Jon Stock
Jon Stock is a journalist and novelist. He worked at the London Telegraph for ten years on the books desk and as weekend editor. He has written investigative features for the London Observer, Private Eye, GQ, the Telegraph, and the Independent. He writes psychological thrillers under the pen name J. S. Monroe. The Sleep Room is his first nonfiction book.
About the Narrators
Richard Armitage has won numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards and well as the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration of the year in 2018 and 2021. He trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. As an actor, he has had movie roles in The Hobbit and is also known for his appearances in the television series Spooks, The Vicar of Dibley, Robin Hood, and North and South. His theater credits include The Duchess of Malfi and Macbeth for the Royal Shakespeare Company. He has also featured on BBC Radio 4’s The Ted Hughes Letters.
Antonia Beamish is a voice-over artist and AudioFile Earphones Award–winning narrator. She is also a professional actress best known for performances in films such as The Last Horror Movie, Dead Creatures, and Chemical Wedding.