Book Review of The Madwomen of Paris by Jennifer Cody Epstein

Name of Book: The Madwomen of Paris

Author: Jennifer Cody Epstein 

ISBN: 978-0-593-154800-5

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Type of book: 1880s, hysteria, France, Salpetriere asylum, hypnosis, sexual assault, Jean-Martin Charcot, imagination vs reality, love story, men vs women, lunacy ward 

Year it was published: 2023 

Summary:

A young woman with amnesia falls under the influence of a powerful doctor in Paris’s notorious women’s asylum, where she must fight to reclaim dangerous memories—and even more perilously, her sanity—in this gripping historical novel inspired by true events, from the bestselling author of Wunderland.

“I didn’t see her the day she came to the asylum. Looking back, this sometimes strikes me as unlikely. Impossible, even, given how utterly her arrival would upend the already chaotic order of things at the Salpêtrière—not to mention change the course of my own life there.”

When Josephine arrives at the Salpêtrière she is covered in blood and badly bruised. Suffering from near-complete amnesia, she is diagnosed with what the Paris papers are calling “the epidemic of the age”: hysteria. It is a disease so baffling and widespread that Doctor Jean-Martine Charcot, the asylum’s famous director, devotes many of his popular public lectures to the malady. To Charcot’s delight, Josephine also proves extraordinarily susceptible to hypnosis, the tool he uses to unlock hysteria’s myriad (and often sensational) symptoms. Soon Charcot is regularly featuring Josephine on his stage, entrancing the young woman into fantastical acts and hallucinatory fits before enraptured audiences and eager newsmen—many of whom feature her on their paper’s front pages.

For Laure, a lonely asylum attendant assigned to Josephine’s care, Charcot’s diagnosis seems a godsend. A former hysteric herself, she knows better than most that life in the Salpêtrière’s Hysteria Ward is far easier than in its dreaded Lunacy division, from which few inmates ever return. But as Josephine’s fame as Charcot’s “star hysteric” grows, her memory starts to return—and with it, images of a horrific crime she believes she’s committed. Haunted by these visions, and helplessly trapped in Charcot’s hypnotic web, she starts spiraling into actual insanity. Desperate to save the girl she has grown to love, Laure plots their escape from the Salpêtrière and its doctors. First, though, she must confirm whether Joséphine is actually a madwoman, soon to be consigned to the Salpêtrière’s brutal Lunacy Ward—or a murderer, destined for the guillotine.

Both are dark possibilities—but not nearly as dark as what Laure will unearth when she sets out to discover the truth.

Characters:

Main characters include Laure, a former hysteria patient who has become a nurse of sorts for the infamous asylum. As discovered, Laure recently had a mental breakdown due to her father's death as well as numerous debts that she and her younger sister owed. Laure is best described as strong-willed, loyal and determined but at the same she often questions the demands and expectations other have for her, and it often feels as if they place too much on her. Josephine is a young lady who is highly susceptible and seems to be best described as naïve and often depends on Laure for help in the place. There are many other characters such as the doctor himself and Sigmund Freud as well as attendant who desires sex and other patients like one before Josephine and the religious one.  The setting and the times were well drawn and felt highly realistic. 

Theme:

What is the line between fantasy and reality

Plot:

The story is in first person narrative from Laure's point of view. From the start it sounds as if Laure is writing a memoir or the time she lived in the infamous asylum, but most of the story takes place from the time the new patient, Josephine, arrives to the asylum. Laure was a previous patient for hysteria because of the  death of her father as well as the financial obligations and debts she owes. But somehow she is "cured" and is now able to help with other inmates. Through Laure's eyes the reader is able to get a sense of disturbing atmosphere that permeates the asylum, especially the hypnosis of hysterical patients and the fine line between fantasy and reality. I'll be honest in saying that the views the people espoused back then were, well, sickening to say the least (Seriously, they thought that male and female hypnosis differs that much?) I also found it sickening how women were used merely as entertainment instead of trying to help them. 

Author Information:
(From goodreads)

N/A

Opinion:

Jennifer Cody Epstein is definitely one of my favorite authors, namely because her novels challenge my perception, and I also love learning new details and facts about the events described in them. (Her previous two, GODS OF HEAVENLY PUNISHMENT as well as WUNDERLAND continue to stay in my mind for the heartbreak and compulsive writing that one cannot turn away from.) THE MADWOMEN OF PARIS is a bit different than the previous two novels I've read namely because there is no experimental narrative techniques and that it didn't focus on WWII or time leading up to WWII as WUNDERLAND and GODS OF HEAVENLY PUNISHMENT had done. Something else that was different was first person narrative from one character rather than multiple characters (I hadn't read her first novel yet.) But yes, just like previous reads, very strong feels and very heartbreaking situations, and also a lot of twists and surprises galore. 

This was given for review

4 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)