EDGAR AWARD FINALIST тАв┬атАЬEpsteinтАЩs page-turning historical novelтАФan indictment of the medical establishmentтАЩs manipulation of womenтАФremains eerily relevant and timely.тАЭтАФFiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Spectacular
Two women fall under the influence of a powerful doctor in ParisтАЩs notorious nineteenth-century womenтАЩs asylumтАФa gripping novel inspired by true events, from the bestselling author of Wunderland.
After being dragged into the Salp├кtri├иre asylum screaming, covered in blood, and suffering from amnesia, Josephine is diagnosed with what the nineteenth-century Parisian press has dubbed тАЬthe epidemic of the ageтАЭ: hysteria. ItтАЩs a disease so uniquely baffling that┬аJean-Martin Charcot, the Salp├кtri├иreтАЩs acclaimed director, devotes popular lectures to it, using hypnosis to elicit fits and fantastical symptoms in front of rapt audiences. Young, charismatic, and highly susceptible to this entrancement, Josephine quickly becomes a favorite of the powerful doctor and the Parisian public alike.┬а
But her true ally at the Salp├кtri├иre is Laure, a lonely ward attendant.┬аAs their friendship blossoms into something more, the two women find comfort and even joy together despite their bleak surroundings. Soon, JosephineтАЩs memory returns, and with it images of a gruesome crime sheтАЩs convinced sheтАЩs committed. Ensnared in CharcotтАЩs hypnotic web, she starts spiraling into seeming insanity, prompting a terrified Laure to plot their escape together. First, though, Laure must solve a grim mystery: Who, really, is the girl sheтАЩs grown to love? Is Josephine a madwoman . . . or a murderer?
Inspired by true events, expertly researched, and masterfully written, The Madwomen of Paris is a Gothic saga for the ages with themes that remain hauntingly resonant today.