The Asylum (John Harwood, Vintage)

In this suspenseful gothic thriller set in late Victorian England, John Harwood (The Ghost Writer, Séance) has clearly had fun with the genre while creating a compelling page-turner with enough plot twists and turns to keep you reading into the night. Finding herself in a strange bed in the infirmary of a lunatic asylum, our narrator, Georgina Ferrars, wakes up, as if from a nightmare. Having lost all memory of the past six weeks, she is told that she had admitted herself as a voluntary patient but this soon changes when she is certified as insane and held against her will. Why is everyone calling her Lucy Ashton and where is her treasured brooch and writing case containing her journals? How did she end up here, why has she forgotten so much and who can she trust to help her solve the puzzle? Skilfully told from the viewpoints of the main female characters via a combination of first-person narrative, a journal and letters, this is a novel about love, greed, madness and memory, and about women and their options—or lack of them. Despite a schlocky, yet fitting, dénouement, I couldn’t tear myself away from this book, and its mysteries.

Paula Grunseit is a freelance journalist, editor and reviewer.

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Category: Reviews