A Speccy Man Has a Breakdown | The book
A psychiatric admission. A new pair of glasses. A sketchbook
“What a tough, shining, fiercely charming thing you’ve made. It reminded me so much of Michael Rosen’s Sad Book. It’s oddly lovely to see how a wide-ranging, talented mind like yours patiently handles this material, and begins to make something beautiful.” – Rhik Samadder, author of I Never Said I Loved You
A few years ago, John-Paul Flintoff told his wife he thought he was worthless and wished he was dead.
She sent him to a psychiatrist, and shortly after collecting his first pair of spectacles, he had himself admitted to hospital.
He forgot to pack a toothbrush. He did take a sketchbook and pens.
Over the following weeks – and the difficult months that followed – he drew everything: the nurses, the patients, the visitors, the food, the view from the window. Nearly 300 drawings. He also wrote, in the same deadpan tone he’d used for years as a journalist at the Financial Times and the Sunday Times.
This is that account.
It is not a recovery manual. It is not an inspirational story. It is simply what happened – told with the same attention he would give any assignment – and illustrated, on almost every page, by the man who was there.
For anyone who has wondered what it is actually like inside, and why it’s hard to come out.
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Get your copy
First edition. 250 numbered, signed hardback copies. Each with a signed A5 art print. More than 120 are now in readers’ hands.
Buy 👉 Book + A5 Art Print + £3 Shipping in 🇬🇧 UK
Buy 👉 Book + A5 Art Print + £10 Shipping across 🇪🇺 Europe
Buy 👉 Book + A5 Art Print + £16 Shipping 🌎 globally
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The book as an object
124 pages. Almost every page illustrated. First edition of 250 copies, each numbered and signed.
Every copy includes a signed, numbered A5 art print: “Do Your Tapping and Think of Something Pleasant (Anything)”.
When you buy a copy, your name is listed on the patrons page, alongside readers in Europe, North America, Africa and Asia.
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Inside the book
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What authors are saying
“I found this book moving, funny, and honest in a way that has the power to liberate others.” – Oliver Burkeman, bestselling author of Four Thousand Weeks
“Funny, truthful, heartbreaking and deadly serious all at the same time – and the drawings are just delicious. Deserves a wide audience.” – Julie Myerson, author of Home and The Lost Child
“I read it in one sitting. Warm, insightful, beautiful and even amusing.” – Tim Lott, author of The Scent of Dried Roses
What readers are saying
“I just read your book, and I’m blown away. Moving and funny and clever and open and true. I love your pictorial style, the colours, the faces, the tenderness.” – Reader
“So powerful, raw and honest. It brought tears to my eyes. Thank you for publishing it.” – Reader
“I love the book. You’ve done it perfectly gloriously. It is moving, will be illuminating for many and recognisable to many others, from their own experience.” – Reader
“The drawing is so simple and expressive. I suppose it took a few minutes to do – plus a lifetime.” – Reader
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For buyers: the making-of archive
Everyone who buys a copy of the first edition gets access to the complete email series JPF wrote while making the book – a 60+ day account of choosing from ~300 drawings, against a self-imposed deadline, told from the inside, including audio recordings of each entry read aloud by the author.
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A note on price
£45 is more than you’d pay for a standard hardback. Here’s where it goes.
The A5 signed and numbered art print that comes with each copy normally sells for £35 on its own. The book is a first edition – 124 pages, hand-illustrated, signed, numbered, limited to 250 copies, with a dust jacket.
Shipping is charged at cost, no markup.
Printing works out at just under £13 a copy. After the art print, dust jacket, ISBN, and other costs, roughly £27 a copy returns to me – for a book that took years to live through, months to draw, and weeks to produce.
I’m not complaining. Just being transparent.
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Get your copy
First edition. 250 copies. £45 + shipping.
Buy 👉 Book + A5 Art Print + £3 Shipping in 🇬🇧 UK
Buy 👉 Book + A5 Art Print + £10 Shipping across 🇪🇺 Europe
Buy 👉 Book + A5 Art Print + £16 Shipping 🌎 globally