Review Detail

Seventeen-year-old Louisa Cosgrove finds herself taken by a horse-drawn carriage to Wildthorn Hall, an asylum for the insane.

She's called by a different name and treated as if she's insane. Only later she finds the terrible truth--that's she's been betrayed for refusing to follow the norms of her society. She's determined to escape. But will she?

This is an amazing tale of what happened to women that didn't follow the norms of Victorian England. The author shows us a teen who finds herself in a insane asylum and the horrors that faced young women at that time. I can't even imagine what it must have been like to be told that reading and studying too much would lead to a weakening of the mind. Or for a woman to be discouraged from being anything else than a mother and wife.

Louisa is determined and stubborn in her refusal to bow down to others even when locked in the insane asylum. She's also not afraid to be true to herself especially with her attraction to first her cousin Grace then later Eliza.

I loved the details and lush descriptions in this novel. I cringed at some of the ways so-called doctors 'cured' those who they claimed were mentally ill. The scene where Louisa finds herself in the Fifth ward is especially intense.

Haunting and engaging, this extraordinary tale is one that I'm sure we'll be hearing more of! A must read to those who love historicals and great tales.