“‘I told you, that isn’t my name. I am Louisa Cosgrove. And I’m not meant to be here. There’s been a mistake.’
He pauses…then turns to read the page of cramped writing I can see inside the folder.
It suddenly occurs to me-perhaps they’re pretending they don’t know who I am. Perhaps they’re trying to drive me mad.
I take a deep breath. ‘I’m not mad, Doctor. You can see that, so-‘”
There’s been a terrible mistake. Instead of being driven to a manor where she was to begin her position as a companion, Louisa is taken to Wildthorn Hall, an asylum. They call her Lucy and interpret her every protest as further evidence of her illness. But who had her committed? More importantly, how can she get out? Does her family really believe she belongs here? Or worse, is it possible that they do not even know where she is?
Amidst the groans and suffering of her fellow patients, Louisa recalls her outside life. True, perhaps she read more than was considered seemly for young women, and her ambition to become a doctor was certainly unconventional. But moral insanity? Surely having dreams of something other than a husband and family does not amount to an illness! In order to save her life and be united with her love, Louisa stages a risky escape attempt. But on the outside, there are many dangers for a young woman, and it seems her troubles have just begun.
I did absolutely nothing today but finish this book; I got it yesterday night. First, it’s about time we have some good queer historical fiction! Even better, this is a queer story that doesn’t revolve around a coming out. Louisa, from her childhood on, has preferred science to sewing and riding horses to making calls. However, she is not committed to the asylum because she is a lesbian, rather, because she exhibits unfeminine characteristics and ambitions for her time. In this way, the book is an interesting commentary on the restrictive expectations for women in nineteenth-century England.
For those of you looking for a love story, don’t worry. It’s there, it is sweet, and it defies the bleakness of the novel’s setting. For a young adult book that reads like the lovechild of The Well of Loneliness and Jane Eyre, the tender romance is refreshingly hopeful, but not wildly so. It is not so perfectly constructed that it seems unrealistic, but it is a lovely surprise! I’ve been waiting to read this book for a long time, and I couldn’t have ordered a more perfect compilation of everything I love in a read-for-pleasure book. I haven’t been this happy since I discovered Sarah Waters. Oh, and one more awesome thing-this novel is based on a true story (Seriously. Isn’t that awful? We should all be welling over with gratitude for our feminist predecessors, because now we don’t have to worry about being tossed in an asylum because we were inconveniently un-feminine.)
Happy Reading!
Author’s website (look, she has another book out!): http://www.janeeagland.com
Eagland, Jane. Wildthorn. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2009. 349 pp. Ages 14 and up.
If you liked this book because of the historical setting, you might like the classics Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. Older readers looking for lesbian love stories set in Victorian England will go crazy over Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters. For a fantasy featuring girls who fall in love, try Malinda Lo’s Huntress. Creepy gothic feel? Try A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray! And for a French medieval trilogy about assassin nuns (ok, not technically related to England or asylums or lesbians), I’ve been wanting to read Grave Mercy. It looks fantastic!
A Better World through Books 