A book that is both sensible and sophisticated, scholarly and very readable

Gellately sets a high standard... Lucid prose and vivid examples make the book admirably accessible to non-specialists... it also engages expertly in one of hte most closely fought historiographical battles of past decades, the Historikerstreit

Approachable... The book is strong in highlighting the almost unbelieveable terror and utterly ruthless assault on humanity in both regimes

Fascinating… It has enough tragedy, comedy, farce and horror to fill a dozen fat novels, and enough bizarre characters to people them

Wise is a terrific researcher and storyteller. Here she has woven a series of case studies into a fascinating history of insanity in the 19th century

Deeply researched and gripping...it makes for harrowing reading

An illuminating look at an area of social history that inspired Wilkie Collins among others

Excellent... One often feels as if one is actually present at the scenes she describes. There can be no higher praise... Inconvenient People is as interesting a work of social history as you are ever likely to read.

Fascinating and chilling, Inconvenient People reads like a series of Victorian novels in brief - only all the tales are true

This superlative study opens the door on the cruelty of the quacks who locked up lost souls

Several riveting cases Sarah Wise has unearthed for this fine social history of contested lunacy in the 19th century... Wise has given us a fascinating book that teems with rich archival research. The pictorial sources are an added boon and make for a wonderfully illustrated addition to the history of the 19th century

Rich, gripping and moving mix of social history, psychiatry and storytelling

A dark and disturbing investigation...trenchant and disturbing book

There is so much to interest and entertain in this book, which is enhanced by over eighty informative illustrations

A wonderfully engaging book

Fascinating book (4 stars)

Wise reopens 12 uncontested lunacy cases from the 1800s, meticulously exploring the details of each and recreating the stories with a page-turning eye for a great narrative

Sarah Wise knows how to grab the reader’s attention with phrases that would have done Bulwer-Lytton proud. But the book’s readability does not disguise its scholarship. This is a valuable contribution to our understanding of nineteenth-century

I thrilled to Sarah Wise’s Inconvenient People, an enthralling study of those who fell foul of Victorian mad-doctors and greedy relatives

It makes for a harrowing read, but much of it is also hilarious, and as gripping as the most lurid Victorian melodramatic novel. Yet again, one closes a book with the impression that beneath the polished mahogany surfaces and shimmering silks of Victorian interiors lurked Hell itself