A Madness So Discreet

January 1, 2016

Gr 9 Up-Seventeen-year-old Grace Mae's father is a powerful senator in the 19th century, and a scandal involving the family is simply out of the question; pregnant, unwed Grace is sent to an insane asylum. Her treatment there is utterly brutal, forcing a miscarriage, and Grace retreats into silence, refusing to utter a word. With the help of kind Dr. Thornhollow, Grace fakes her own death and escapes with Thornhollow to an asylum in Ohio where he is taking on a new position. In addition to his role at the asylum, he has a learned ability to read crime scenes well and has formed a partnership of sorts with the police to share forensic knowledge. Thornhollow sees in Grace a keen intellect and makes her a partner in his investigations. Soon they are on the hunt for a serial killer. Brittany Pressley's voices are vibrant and engaging. This story is engrossing from the start, and despite two odd plot twists toward the end of the book, this would make an excellent addition to any collection. VERDICT Issues of incest, mental health, and medical ethics make this ripe for book discussions as well. Recommended. ["Fans of period pieces and crime dramas will be pleased with this haunting tale": SLJ 8/15 review of the Katherine Tegen book.]-Suzanne Dix, The Seven Hills School, Cincinnati, OH

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 15, 2015
Thrown into an asylum by the same hands that nearly destroyed her, a 19th-century girl must redefine herself and the meaning of madness to survive. At Wayburne Lunatic Asylum of Boston, Grace is trapped in a nightmare; one patient screams all night, believing spiders crawl in her veins, and an orderly thrills at causing pain. However, the asylum pales compared to the hell she came from. Grace is not insane. Her father, a powerful politician, delivered her to the asylum after she became pregnant with a child he forced upon her. Though more horrors await her, Grace quickly decides she'll never leave. When young Dr. Thornhollow, a specialist in lobotomies, arrives at her lowest moment, Grace begs him to set her mind free. But he recognizes a rare cleverness in her and offers to spirit her away to assist him in his new endeavor: catching murderers. However, she must pretend to be insane to remain safe. Grace soon constructs a new identity among the maddest of characters. Though mired in moments of unthinkable cruelty, Grace's story shines. Every person she encounters, mad or trapped by the label of madness, feels achingly real. Readers will wish they could watch her and Thornhollow solve murders for pages and pages more. A dark study of the effects of power in the wrong hands, buoyed by a tenacious heroine and her colorful companions. (Historical thriller. 14 & up)

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August 1, 2015

Gr 9 Up-This compelling historical thriller opens with Grace Mae impregnated by her own father and locked away in a horrific asylum, mute and sealed within her own mind. She wishes for death, seeing herself as an empty husk, a vessel only for the life within. When she is pushed too far by the barbarous staff, she reacts violently, leading to the loss of her baby and being sent to die in a basement dungeon. She is discovered by a visiting doctor who sees within Grace the ability to help him in his work solving crime through criminal profiling. Grace is secreted away from Boston to Ohio, where though still in an insane asylum, her life is vastly improved. There she makes friends with a group of realistically complex characters, and assists Dr. Thornhollow in his work. Grace comes to terms with her life, and discovers what she can change, and how to survive that which she cannot. Though she continues to be entrapped in silence most of the time, she manages to make human connections, eventually using them to face her demons. Sympathetic characters make questionable moral choices, perhaps justified by their lack of power to effect change in a direct way. Grace's personal struggles to find her own place and influence her own story mirror the historical struggles of women throughout history. VERDICT Fans of period pieces and crime dramas will be pleased with this haunting tale.-Genevieve Feldman, San Francisco Public Library

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.