This author knows how to twist a plot and intertwine dual timelines. I chose this book from a list of bookclub recommendations, finding myself instantly attracted to the intriguing storyline.
In 1995 Isabelle Stone, or Izzy, as she is called, is taken into foster care by two museum employees. She is less than thrilled to accompany her foster mother to the long-shuttered Willard State Asylum to catalog the contents of abandoned luggage recently discovered in an attic.
Among a patient’s belongings she finds an old journal and a stack of letters which have never been mailed. Touched by the contents of the journal, she wants to know what happened to the young woman who filled its pages, and why.
In 1929, Clara Cartwright, a defiant teenager, rages against her father when he separates her from the young Italian immigrant she loves, and demands that she marry a man within her class that she has no interest in. To teach her a lesson, she is admitted to The Long Island Home for Nervous Invalids, until her father’s fortune is lost and she finds herself unheard and forgotten at Willard State Asylum.
There are several secondary characters in both protagonists stories, and although Izzy’s journey is relatable I found her teenage peers surprisingly stereotypical, and some of Izzy’s physical reactions to events were often so oddly described that it was distracting.
In contrast, the autocratic male figures and the deferential females of the 1930s seemed authentic, although their actions hopefully weren’t common.
What was truly interesting was the authors knowledge of treatments for the mentally ill in the late 19thand early 20thcentury. As horrific as it sounded, it is a valuable reminder of how far we have come, not only in medicine, but in patient rights and women’s rights.
As the author pointed out the Utica Crib, a locked wood cage, was taken out of use in 1887, but insulin shock therapy was put into use in 1935, followed by electroshock in 1938. Oddly, psychologists were not used in state asylums until the 1960s.
Another horrifying fact is that between 1907 and 1963 over 64,000 women, many who were not mentally ill, were forcibly sterilized under the eugenic legislation in the US.
This book is a work of fiction which addresses horrendous, and often forgotten practices that occurred not all that long ago, but it also contains several surprising subplots that I’m going to let you read for yourself!
No spoilers!
The author’s agent is Michael Carr of The Veritas Agency.
What She Left Behind was published by Kensington Publishing Corporation.
