While exploring the remote possibility of contacting her dead husband through a spirit medium, a young widow is pronounced insane and committed to an asylum against her will. As she struggles to escape the nightmare she’s been thrust into, she is stripped of everything she holds dear, including her identity and her reason to live. The fight to reclaim what is rightfully hers will test every aspect of her being, up to and including her sanity. Is she up to the task, or has her grip on reality already slipped away?
Book Six of The Golden City series, The Madness of Mrs. Whittaker explores two major forces of early twentieth century America: the religious movement called Spiritualism and treatment of the mentally ill. Like all of A.B. Michaels’ novels, it is a stand-alone read.
Mae does not believe that there is any chance of her husband contacting her from beyond the grave. Nevertheless, she promised him that she would explore the idea and she accompanies her sister-in-law to a Spiritualism group, wherein it is not her husband that contacts her, but her father.
Despite the encouragements Mae’s mother-in-law gave her to go to the group, her mother-in-law uses Mae's growing beliefs to have her taken away to an asylum. Mae can do nothing to convince anyone that she is perfectly fine, for that is what women in asylums do.
This novel addresses some important issues of the past, that I feel are often overlooked when talking about history. Everyone is aware of the inequality between men and women, and how women were treated as inferior, and unsuited to do things that they were perfectly capable of doing, but not many speak about the abuse in asylums, the horrors that these women faced and, indeed, that they had to deal with when, and if, they found their way out into the real world again.
This book is rich in detail and, despite the dark tones, there is also a hint of romance, a dash of mystery and an intense break-out to plan. Mae is such a lovely woman, and I couldn’t help but feel so incredibly sorry for her because of all she goes through.
I really enjoyed reading this book, and it gripped me from beginning to end. I found it incredibly difficult to put this book down, because I just had to know what the outcome would be for Mae.
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A.B. Michaels
A native of California, A.B. Michaels holds masters’ degrees in history (UCLA) and broadcasting (San Francisco State University). After working for many years as a promotional writer and editor, she turned to writing fiction, which is the hardest thing she's ever done besides raise two boys. She lives with her husband and two spoiled dogs in Boise, Idaho, where she is often distracted by playing darts and bocce and trying to hit a golf ball more than fifty yards. Reading, quilt-making and travel figure into the mix as well, leading her to hope that sometime soon, someone invents a 25+ hour day.
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Another great review for another great book!!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the kind review! In researching "The Madness of Mrs. Whittaker," I found myself thinking more and more, "Thank goodness I live today and not in 1907!"
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