THE MAD WOMEN'S BALL by Victoria Mas

 

This book was a birthday present from the bookshop I work in, bought without me knowing! What book do you give the girl who reads all the time and reads such a wide range of genres? It was a challenge I believe... and what a choice. I loved this, so neat to find out what others think you would like to read. 

The background to this novel translated from French is treatment of the mentally unwell, not in the present, but in 1885, in Paris. In recent years mental health awareness, perceptions and treatment of have totally come out of the closet, and what a good thing that is. Way back in 1885, such health issues were never discussed, you just got chucked into a 'medical' facility where you had no rights, no choices, totally under the control of the medical people who ran the place. And what better way to treat an unwanted wife, a rebellious  daughter, a mother with what would now be diagnosed as post natal depression, an abused woman who finally can't take any more and throws her awful husband off a bridge. Lock them away. Simple. 

The Salpêtrière asylum is where women would be incarcerated until deemed recovered. If ever. Once a year there is a ball - the mad women's ball. With the cream of Pais society, the nosy and curious vying for tickets, this is the event of the year. A ridiculous premise really, putting crazy people on public display,  the women are in the thrall of dressing up, altering beautiful dresses to fit, playing dress ups, in an atmosphere of hope for the women, and voyeurism for everyone else. 

Geneviève is a head nurse at the asylum. Brought to the nursing profession following the death of her younger sister many years before, she has been at the asylum for some 20 years, a true part of the furniture, but also trusted and valued by the male medical staff. She is kind, concerned for the women in her care, but she is very repressed emotionally, buttoned up and not a happy woman. Into the asylum comes 17 year old Eugénie, daughter of one of Paris' society families. She has ideas and dreams way beyond her family's rigid rules, and dangerously can see and hear spirits of people who have died. Once incarcerated, she comes under the care of Geneviève. Life changes dramatically for both women when Eugénie sees and hears Geneviève's long dead sister Blandine. The tension and question of the story is who is mad and who isn't, what is going to happen on the night of the ball, who will stay and who will go. 

Vivid writing, beautifully capturing Paris of the 1880s, striving to be a modern city, but with these deeply barbaric institutions and ways of doing things.  The characters are so well drawn and develop  It is also about the power of hope, the power of connections, taking a chance, and just believing. Very good story. And I understand that Amazon is making a movie. Can't wait.