Today is publication day for Karen Coles The Asylum which is published by Welbeck Publishing Group and I’m honoured to be sharing my review for this awesome book. Massive thanks to Maddie at Welbeck for the gifted copy and invite to join the blog tour.
About the book
It is 1906 and Maud Lovell has been at Angelton for five years. She is not sure how she came to be there and knows nothing beyond its four walls. Hysterical, distressed and untrustworthy, she is badly unstable and prone to violence. Or so she has been told.
When a new doctor arrives, keen to experiment with the evolutionary practice of medical hypnosis, Maud’s unknown history makes her the perfect case study. But as Doctor Dimmond delves deeper into the past, it becomes clear that confinement and high doses are there to keep her silent.
When Maud finally remembers what has been done to her, and by whom, her mind turns to her past – and to revenge…
My thoughts
In the Asylum we’re introduced to Mary who has been incarcerated for 5 years, she’s dangerous, prone to violent outbursts so she’s been told and she’s confined to her room or cell which is probably a better description. The thing is though, Mary doesn’t even know why she’s there, she can’t remember anything but she does know her names not Mary, it’s Maud.
When Dr Dimmond arrives with his new treatment of hypnotherapy, Maud seems like the perfect patient, he’s sure he can get her to remember her past and cure her. Can it be that easy?
I found Maud to be such an interesting character, from very early on you know there is more to her story than meets the eye and it was really gripping, heart breaking and interesting finding out her story. The author did it brilliantly, slowly revealing Mauds story and it just made me want to read on and on to find out more.
It’s a tense story, it gave me shivers but the pace was perfect. The story flows steadily and really draws you in. The descriptions were on point, the story played out like a film in my mind as I read and I absolutely love when that happens.
Angelton Lunatic Asylum has stuck in my mind since finishing this book, so much so I’ve dreamt about it twice and they weren’t nice dreams either. It really gave me the chills and is the perfect setting.
I won’t give too much away but oh my did my heart race, break and fill with hope so many times. My emotions were all over the place and even after finishing I still feel a bit broken, I really didn’t want it to end.
So as you’ll probably can tell, I loved this book. It was everything and more that I hoped it would be and I’ll definitely be recommending it to anyone who’ll listen.
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