When concert pianist Vivienne Mourdant's father dies, he
leaves to her the care of a patient at Hurstwell Asylum. Vivienne had no idea
the woman existed, and yet her portrait is shockingly familiar. When the asylum
claims she was never a patient there, Vivienne is compelled to discover what
happened to the figure she remembers from childhood dreams.
The longer she lingers in the deep shadows and forgotten towers at Hurstwell,
the fuzzier the line between sanity and madness becomes. She hears music no one
else does, receives strange missives with rose petals between the pages, and
untangles far more than is safe for her to know.
But can she uncover the truth about the mysterious woman she seeks? And is
there anyone at Hurstwell she can trust with her suspicions?
My Thoughts:
Vivienne Mourdant is a concert pianist who lives in the year 1886. She was a full of life character, inquisitive and smart. She was very much a prisoner in her father's home, we learn about her years as a young child as she thinks back to her past and when some of her fears began. We start the story with the death of her father. She is finally free, or is she? She finds out soon enough with the debts piling up and needing to be paid. However, her solicitor gives her some startling information. Her father had a ward in the Hurtswell asylum. This she never knew about, and this woman now is her ward. As she sees her picture some distant memories come to light in Vivienne.
Vivienne having lived with a controlling and somewhat abusive father wants to help other women out of their similar circumstances of abusive fathers, husbands, or guardians. She understands the entrapment and her heart goes out to the women who cannot help themselves, even though to the outside world these wealthy women appear to have everything.
In Vivienne's search for this mysterious ward, she becomes employed at the asylum herself. The staff and patients she meets and the stories of their lives kept me turning the pages. At least on the women's side, they were locked up for all manner of reasons, from post-partum depression, death of a child, to minor infractions the men in their lives disagreed with. All of this touches Vivienne's heart even though these were not originally the women she wanted to help.
Vivienne also feels an odd duck as she thinks in music and when she starts to hear a haunting tune from her past in the corridors of the asylum, she is more than determined to find answers.
I could not put this book down as it was Gothic in feel and at times a bit eerie and dark. I also felt for those poor souls who the world seemed to have given up on. Except God didn't. I also thought that asylums seemed like cruel places in history and those that went in became even more lost, if not for those who truly helped the patients.
I was provided a copy of this novel from the publisher I was not required to post a positive review and all views and opinions are my own.
About the Author:
Joanna Davidson Politano is the award-winning author of Lady Jayne Disappears, A Rumored Fortune, Finding Lady Enderly, The Love Note, and A Midnight Dance. She loves tales that capture the colorful, exquisite details in ordinary lives and is eager to hear anyone's story. She lives with her husband and their children in a house in the woods near Lake Michigan. You can find her online at www.jdpstories.com.
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