About the Book

Book: The Gray Chamber
Author: Grace Hitchcock
Genre: Christian Historical / Suspense
Release Date: January, 2020

Will Edyth prove her sanity before it is too late?

Step into True Colors—a new series of Historical Stories of Romance and American Crime

On Blackwell’s Island, New York, a hospital was built to keep its patients from ever leaving.

With her late parents’ fortune under her uncle’s care until her twenty-fifth birthday in the year 1887, Edyth Foster does not feel pressured to marry or to bow to society’s demands. She freely indulges in eccentric hobbies like fencing and riding her velocipede in her cycling costume about the city for all to see. Finding a loophole in the will, though, her uncle whisks Edyth off to the women’s lunatic asylum just weeks before her birthday. And Edyth fears she will never be found.

At the asylum she meets another inmate, who upon discovering Edyth’s plight, confesses that she is Nellie Bly, an undercover journalist for The World. Will either woman find a way to leave the terrifying island and reclaim her true self?

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My Thoughts:

This was a completely chilling and engrossing read of one woman's plight and descent into a mad house. Edyth Foster is a young wealthy woman who has lost her parents. She is put into the care of her uncle, whom she believed loved her. Edyth was a bit of a tomboy and did not really fit into the norms of her generation. Her father encouraged her, but the rest of society looked down upon her.

So what does Edyth do? Well she continues to live her life as she wanted and she shuns most of society. Sound like something we might all do, until it comes back to haunt her in a big way. Unfortunately her Uncle really just loves her fortune and finds a way to have Edyth sent to the asylum on Blackwell's Island.

The author really lets us into the historical details of what living at that asylum was like, the abuses, the tortures, and the gray chamber. It was a chilling read as the law was on her uncle's side and poor Edyth could not really help her self on the inside. It was also a really interesting compare and contrast of who to believe and who was really insane and who was not.

The author does give us a wonderful hero by the name of Bane who will stop at nothing to save his beloved. Edyth and Bane have been friends for a long time and their love naturally grew out of that friendship. Even though their romance is not the main story, their love grows in a lovely way and we as the reader, and Edyth need that before the horrors begin.

This was another riveting read about history in the True Colors series.

I received 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

Grace Hitchcock is the author of three novellas in The Second Chance Brides, The Southern Belle Brides, and the Thimbles and Threads collections with Barbour Publishing. The White City is her debut novel and releases March 2019 with Barbour Publishing. She holds a Masters in Creative Writing and a Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in History. Grace lives in southern Louisiana with her husband, Dakota, and son. Visit Grace online at GraceHitchcock.com.

More from Grace

I am thrilled to share with you my second novel in the True Colors series, The Gray Chamber, which is set in New York City in 1887. I loved writing about Edyth Foster, our cat-rescuing, spunky heroine who spends her days painting, fencing with her dreamy instructor, and avoiding society at all costs, which as you can imagine, comes back to haunt her before the end. I’ve never written about a character who despised reading, so that was a new one for me. Edyth just doesn’t like to sit still long enough to finish a book, but you’ll find out why later.

I am pretty certain the librarians at my local branch are wondering what in the world my hobbies are, judging from the stacks of fencing books for beginners, histories of New York crime in the 19^th century, and Nellie Bly’s Ten Days in a Mad-House, and more that I have continuously checked out since moving back to Louisiana.

The inspiration for this book came from Nellie Bly’s scandalous exposé for Joseph Pulitzer’s newspaper, The World. In reading Nellie’s articles, I was shocked at the grounds by which the asylum would commit women and that’s when I discovered a tiny mention about an heiress with family members who had her tucked away so they could have her fortune. . .and Edyth Foster was born.

I hope you will enjoy reading about our eccentric leading lady and her fencing master hero, Raoul “Bane” Banebridge. If you are interested in seeing pictures of the asylum and to see what I pictured the characters looking like, check out my Pinterest board here.

Thank you for joining the fun for the Celebrate Lit tour! Join my author newsletter for more bookish news and to find out what is coming next! Just enter your e-mail address and name here. Happy Reading!

“With beautiful description and shiver-worthy scenes, Grace Hitchcock has penned an incredible fiction story based on true history. The Gray Chamber was a fascinating and chilling read. Edyth’s story had me glued to the pages. But as I journeyed with the heiress and her eccentricities, the greed of her family which saw her locked up in an asylum against her will made me grateful for the freedoms I have today. And made me pray that my voice would never be silenced. The nightmare was brought to life so vividly that I found myself holding my breath and then cheering on Bane as he never gave up on Edyth. This is a story that will stick with me for a long time…”

~Kimberley Woodhouse – Carol-Award winning and Best-Selling Author of more than twenty books, including: MissTaken Identity, The Express Bride, The Golden Bride, The Patriot Bride, and The Mayflower Bride.