The Painted Bridge - Wendy Wallace

'I am more sane than I have ever been in my life. And yet, I look like a madwoman'

Behind a high stone wall on the outskirts of London lies Lake House, a private asylum for women. Tricked by her husband, Anna Palmer becomes its newest patient just weeks into her marriage.

Ravaged by the cruel treatments of the time, Anna struggles to prove her sanity, despite some surprising allies: Talitha Batt, a longtime inhabitant who seems to be as sane as she is; Lucas St Clair, a visiting physician who believes that photography may reveal the state of a patient's mind; and Catherine Abse, the proprietor's highly-strung daughter. Yet the longer Anna remains at Lake House, the more she realises that no one and nothing is quite as it appears. Not her fellow patients, her husband, her family -- not even herself.

Will Anna discover the freedom she seeks, or plunge so far into the recesses of the mind that she might never escape? 

My thoughts:
Omg, poor woman. Men are such asshats!

Anna did not make the best of choices, but she just wanted to help. And for that, and cos he was embarrassed her husband sent her to an asylum! Because he does own her after all. And asylums in those days, well let's just say I would go insane there. Any sane human would go insane by their treatments.

I did wonder in the beginning, is she a bit mad after all? Who knows. Her husband sure kept saying it, but then you saw her and she just wanted to go home.

And we do learn things about the husband. Asshat!
And we do learn more things that made me wonder about her.

In the asylum we meet other women too. And hey they are not crazy either. Stupid era! Arghhhh!!!! Women are people too, not property.

Conclusion:
A good book. A slower pace that let's you get into her head.

Paperback, 386 pages
Published 2013 by Simon & Schuster UK (first published May 24th 2012)
Historical fiction
Own

The Sacred River - Wendy Wallace

Harriet Heron's life is almost over before it has even begun. At just twenty-three years of age, she is an invalid, over-protected and reclusive. Before it is too late, she must escape the fog of Victorian London for a place where she can breathe. Together with her devoted mother, Louisa, her god-fearing aunt, Yael, and a book of her own spells inspired by the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Harriet travels to a land where the air is tinged with rose and gold and for the first time begins to experience what it is to live. But a chance meeting on the voyage to Alexandria results in a dangerous friendship as Louisa's long-buried past returns, in the form of someone determined to destroy her by preying upon her daughter. As Harriet journeys towards a destiny no one could have foreseen, her aunt Yael is caught up in an Egypt on the brink of revolt and her mother must confront the spectres of her own youth.  

My thoughts:

It's the story about 3 women on a journey of a lifetime.

First there is Harriet who is slowly fading away in London. The air is killing her. She is fascinated with ancient Egypt and gets her doctor to say that the fresh warm air would be best for her (and it is, but Egypt is sure very far away.) She in her loneliness is actually something of a scholar. But at the same time she is very naive in her quest for freedom and to live.

Louisa is her mother and her secret from the past comes back to haunt them. I wished she had just told the truth, but ok the truth is hard but still. It could have saved them some trouble.

Yael is the aunt who is a devout Christian and see the plight of Egypt and wants to do something. And I did like what she did, she was no crusader, she was a humanitarian.

They are all running from something in a away and the each find something more. Well, almost.

Conclusion:

A good story, an interesting location too.

Cover

Nice

Paperback, 416 pages
Published April 24th 2014 by Simon & Schuster Ltd (first published July 4th 2013)
Historical fiction
For review