Nope. Nope. Nope. I will not read books with sexual violence. DNR at 18%. I understand you may not want to include that a book contains interpersonal violence in the main public description but for NetGalley, when readers are picking out books without the benefit of a lot of other reviews to go on, some trigger warnings out to be included. There are reviews on Goodreads but they are mostly in French.

This was a very quick read about France’s Salpêtrière hospital in the early days of neurology and psychology. This was also the time when any woman who was “unruly” could be committed to these hospitals by her family members, usually male. The story follows the matron of the ward and her experiences and a newcomer to the ward who claims she can communicate with spirits. What follows is really a discussion on feminism, how women were seen as objects and had no rights, including over their bodies and minds.

This book was an enjoyable, interesting
read but it also broke my heart. It is powerful and eye opening. This is one of those books that will stay with me. It broke my heart for all the women who were unfairly treated during this time and institutionalized. It is a short, quick book and I feel like it could have been even better if it was longer and more in depth on some of the characters pasts and perhaps more on Eugenies new life after her escape. I would recommend this book for anyone who loves historical fiction.

Thank you Net Galley and Abrams,
The Overlook Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Book Review for The Mad Women’s Ball
Full review for this title will be posted at: @cattleboobooks on Instagram!

19th century France was not a time for women to try to assert their independence or to appear “uncooperative” in any way. Doing so could easily end with said woman being locked away in a psychiatric hospital. Dr Charcot has the world believing he can “cure” the women at Salpetriere Asylum by hypnotizing them out of their “madness”. But many of these women are perfectly normal, just unwanted, inconvenient or unconventional. Every year the inmates at the asylum are dressed up for the Lenten, or Madwoman’s Ball. The polite members of Parisian society gather to gawk at the women, and the women see this night as a chance to escape their imprisonment, even if for only one night. This year, senior nurse, Genevieve, formerly Dr. Charcot’s biggest fan now sees him for the charlatan he is. Her friendship with Eugenie a young patient who claims to be able to see spirits, becomes a catalyst. Eugenie, desperate to escape from the asylum sees her chance in Paris’s fascination with The Book of Spirits and uses her “ability” to free both herself and Genevieve. An incredible tale of survival and escape based on real events