Country Madness : An English Country Diary of a Singaporean Psychiatrist

Country Madness is a delightfully quirky memoir of a Singaporean psychiatrist in rural England that spans five seasons (the fifth season being a Chinese state of mind that might equate to an English 'Indian Summer'). In humorous and insightful prose, Ong Yong Lock describes living in two cultures and belonging to both. He shares his thoughts about his adopted home, his Chinese cultural roots and his attraction to the mysterious Carolyn as well as to pheasants (which he considers a prototype of the Chinese phoenix). The authors musings are further illustrated by a series of paintings he commissioned from a Chinese husband and wife artist couple living in England. These young artists have since become leading lights in the contemporary Chinese art scene and their paintings may be found at the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Ashmolean Museum. This very idiosyncratic English country diary is written by a Singaporean psychiatrist with an acute eye for cultural differences as well as the wonderful frailties of the human psyche.