Review: A story set in an abandoned mental hospital, doesn't that perk your interest?
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 9, 2014
I have read a few  Kim Fielding books and so far this is my favourite.  The tin box is the story of William Lyon who has found himself the caretaker of an old abandoned mental hospital, with a small town nearby.  William meets Colby who changes the way he sees life and himself.I am not a real romantic when is comes to stories, (you know that if you know my reading tastes) but every now and then I get pulled into a romance like this.  William has always been taught that being gay is wrong and his parents, when he was young tried to “cure” him in many ways. Making him as an adult feel ashamed and wanting to be “normal” not a man attracted to other men.  Colby on the other hand is very comfortable in his skin and brings William out of his shell.  Colby however does have a few issues of his own.  Colby shows William that being gay is not wrong or disgusting, that love can be a beautiful thing between two men.  And he deserves to be happy.William also finds an old Tin box hidden away with letters from a man called  Bill to his male lover.  These letters pull  William and us into a very disturbing world of the metal hospital and treatments of the time.  (Just before WWII)  Bill was only committed because he was gay,  and takes us on his journey through the “Cures” of the time, his escape attempt and what happened to him after he was caught. When the letters stop  William hunts the hospitals old files to find out what happened to Bill,  who's life, love and situation has affected him deeply.I enjoy how this story delves into the past, and the hospital is not portrayed as a scary, haunted place, but a realistic place of sadness and undue misery of a time gone by.  The hospital itself is in a way also one of the main characters of this tale. This is a story that will stay with me for a wee while.