About the Book

The Mad Women’s Ball by Victoria Mas

Genre: Historical Fiction

Release Date: Sept. 7, 2021

Book Review

This book has the potential to be one of the most talked-about books of the year. This fiercely feminist novel takes you inside a Parisian insane asylum in 1885 and delves into all the ways women have been minimized and not believed over the centuries. More than that, it will rip your heart in two.

Nineteen-year-old Eugenie is outspoken, strong-willed and can see and hear the dead. It’s the first two as much as the last that convince her father to commit her to an insane asylum. There, she meets Genevieve, a nurse who has devoted her life to the asylum and worships the head doctor. But when Eugenie carries a message from her dearly-missed dead sister, Genevieve begins to question everything she once knew was true. Eugenie struggles between hopelessness and longing for escape. Both women’s fates will never be the same again once they meet.

Inside the asylum, the girls broken by the world are heart-wrenching, from sweet, naive Louise who keeps her heart open despite her tragic past, to motherly Therese who’s been there long enough to be part of the soul of the institution and knits a shawl for each resident, giving them something made with love. Each of the committed girls has her own hopes for the Mad Women’s Ball, where the elite of Parisian society come to stare at the mad girls.

The emotional ending will keep you thinking about it for a long time.

Trigger warning: rape, mental health issues

Thank you to NetGalley and Abrams for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.