Mike Smith, a Cambridge graduate with the appearance of a movie star, lives in London, sells rare books and is burdened by his dull existence. But everything changes when a former classmate, simple-minded and homely-looking Gregory Collins, turns to Mike with a request to borrow his attractive face for the cover of his half-crazy novel. So, completely unexpectedly for himself, Mike becomes a “writer”, and soon he is invited to a strange psychiatric clinic to teach writing to crazy people. The closed, surreal world of the madhouse, where it is difficult to understand who is truly crazy and who is just pretending, forces Mike to solve riddle after riddle, even sex becomes a charade for him, bordering on madness.

Hoaxes and madness have always been favorites themes of English writers. Jeff Nicholson, one of the most interesting British authors, in his picaresque novel laughs at the mores of literary bohemia, psychiatry, the search for truth and one's self. “Bedlam on Fire” is a book about writing, about mental health, about how to maintain your sanity in this world that is so similar to bedlam.