The Secret World of Shlomo Fine

K.M.R Smythe grew up in Rhodesia Her family
lived in the grounds of Ingutsheni Mental Hospital in Bulawayo from
1953-1971 where her father worked as a psychiatrist. As a child she
grappled with many frightening situations and found strength and
self-belief by becoming a successful tennis player. The Secret World of Shlomo Fine
is an exploration of concealment and prejudice on many different
levels. It is a story about an isolated and isolating experience inside
one of the largest lunatic asylums built during British colonial rule in
Africa. The book raises questions about the role that psychiatry holds
in the Western imagination as accepted wisdom for healing human
distress. What took place at Ingutsheni – first under British colonial
rule, followed by UDI and the leadership of Ian Smith – needs to be more
widely known. Similar institutions were built throughout the Empire,
and many still exist throughout the world.