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.
I read the blurb of this book before I saw the cover, and I thought it sounded interesting. Then I saw the cover and knew that I just had to read it. I sat down with a cup of tea and got stuck in, not knowing just how gripped I was going to be.
Mae’s situation goes from bad to worse when she gets mixed up with a Spiritualism group after the death of her husband. Her life goes rapidly downhill when her dead father starts sending her messages, talking to her through a medium and, again, through the medium, writing her letters. Things do not improve when her mother-in-law, a truly awful person, has her sent to an asylum, not out of concern but because of a more sinister purpose.
The asylum is truly horrendous and at times I found myself reaching for the tissues. The abuse Mae endures is enough to pull at anyone's heartstrings. At times the future seems very bleak for our brave heroine. I am not going to give away any spoilers so you will have to read the book if you want to discover what happens to Mae.
This novel does tackle some very sensitive issues. Mae is manipulated, abused and locked away when there is absolutely nothing wrong with her. The author has done a marvellous job of highlighting how mental health was poorly understood and how easy it was to manipulate and force innocent people into an institution that promises to help them recover but instead made them ten times worse. It was a very sobering read.
This book lives up to the blurb and the cover, and I was utterly enthralled as I read it.
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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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