The Mad Women's Ball - Victoria Mas translated by Frank Wynne

 A fine example of quality not quantity, this slender volume weighs in at just over two hundred pages but condensed within its chapters it packs quite a punch. The treatment of mental health has thankfully changed over the decades but a story like this won’t fail to send shivers down your spine at what these women endured. Historically fascinating; The Saltpetriere Hospital remains a University Hospital to this day and the doctors in this story were real neurologists. For me one of the marks of a good historical fiction is whether it makes me want to find out more, and this book did. I’ve read about the hospital, originally a gunpowder factory, hence its name and the doctors, the ball itself was an actual event…. Sociologically interesting; how women were incarcerated by their families in an asylum with little or no evidence of mental health issues but plenty of potential embarrassment for these families. But this book is more than mere histfic and social comment. It contains elements of the gothic and more.

It’s a concisely constructed narrative with the interactions between characters seamlessly and efficiently executed. The characters themselves make for an interesting collection of ‘them’ and ‘us’ to a degree, the ‘us’ being the women of the institution. Where the two start to cross over gives the novel its edge and we see stiff, starchy, Genevieve open her mind, and maybe her heart, to a wider consideration of all that she has experienced and understood so far. Eugenie impresses as the feisty, independent thinking Parisian woman with a singular gift. And Theophile, her brother, who seems caught in between the 'them' and the 'us' divide. I found that the female characters each had significant parts to play, not just within the story but in the mind of the reader. The male characters seemed weak, trying to control but exposing their tunnel vision in the process. It’s a masterful study in the cultural gender divides of the time.

Ably translated by Frank Wynne who allows none of Mas’s sparkle to fade it is no surprise to me that this debut has already garnered some accolades. It’s one of those books that strikes a balance between having something impactful to say but remaining an entertaining read. A book that once read will stay with you for a long time. Your heart will break for the injustices served upon some of these women. But your heart will soar for a story well written.

My thanks to the Bookmarks Community for this prize, in every sense of the word, book.