The Asylum Seekers

In his first novel, Nigel Strauss, a psychiatrist with forty years of experience, tells the tale of Tom, a soldier who sustains severe injuries while fighting with the Australian forces in Afghanistan. Saved by locals he returns to Australia a broken man. With his old life in tatters Tom escapes from all that he has known and loved and embarks on a challenging adventure to find peace of mind and establish his own sanctuary.

This is an intense psychological exploration of what happens to people who find themselves existentially and geographically displaced. It is a fictional story based on real characters the writer has encountered in his clinical practice. It particularly highlights the problems associated with psychological traumatization and how even today, post-traumatic stress remains a condition too often undiagnosed or undertreated.