Welcome to Litsy!

This week‘s book purchase. I‘m trying to keep myself to a limit, but I‘m at least up to several purchases a month. It‘s so much shorter than I thought it‘d be!

The Lenten Ball, also known as The Mad Women's Ball, is held in March at the Salpetriere Asylum in Paris. The women of the asylum look forward to this annual event.

The story is told from the POV of the recently incarcerated Eugenie and the nurse Genevieve, mainly. The story focuses on the lives unwanted and inconvenient women led in asylums and how easy it must have been for families to get rid of their womenfolk in such establishments.

Tried culling books from my Kindle. (I do that once a year.) Came across this book and only wanted to read the first page... I'm 60% in now.

Paris, the Salpetriere Asylum for women, in the late 19th century. Most women aren't mad, they were just unwanted and/or inconvenient.

Eugenie, 19 y/o, sees spirits. Which is the reason her family incarcerated her. Can she befriend the nurse Genevieve? Will she help her get out?

#MountTBR

Set in the 1880s in Paris, this story highlights mental health and asylums. The story takes place in the Salpetriere asylum in 1885 Paris where the patients are mainly women. Most of these women do not need to be at an asylum but it had become very convenient to have a place to keep women who do not fit into the expectations of society. I really found this story very interesting and a part of historical fiction I didn't know much about.

I was super excited to read this book but in the end it was not as good as I had hoped. When I first started I had to keep going back to make sure I was keeping the characters straight. The story took off and then died down as I went along and the ending felt rushed to me. Great story idea but execution could of been a lot better.

This is my favourite book of the year so far. Beautifully written with sympathy and empathy and based on a real life hospital, characters and events

This book was was a borderline pick…it was a very quick and straightforward storyline, with very frustrating truths about how “inconvenient” women were just thrown into asylums.

Rainy day while camping means we‘re stuck inside…and, yes, our 70 lb American pit bull terrier just HAD to sit in my lap.

Painting: Mad Woman by Chaim Soutine, 1920

Set in Paris this a a story of men claiming that women are mad and mentally ill if they‘re not behaving according to their rules, therefore they must be taken to the mental asylum where their treatment is awful. This was unexpectedly good and very much character based, I ended up reading it in 2 days I enjoyed it so much
4 🌟

I‘ve just finished the book and it‘s howling a snowstorm outside - so think a sneaky day time movie might be the order of the day!

The history of the treatment and abuse of women who society would rather not deal with in this novel based in the real setting of the Parisian Salpêtrière asylum is a stark reminder of what happens in a patriarch society when agency is lost. This story feels a little tame though. The anger and suffering seem muted and gentle. But a good read to re remember how delicate our freedoms are.

Such a shiny cover - very bling!

Choosing the perfect bookmark pairing is one of my rituals when starting a new book. Today I‘ve chosen a bookmark I picked up in Shakespeare & Co in Paris - seems fitting for this nineteenth century Parisian novel! 👍🏼

This was a page turner for me. Something I did not expect happened and I was taken in completely. Victoria Mas writing is beautiful and actually accessible to those whose French isn‘t their first language (perhaps B1/B2 levels).

What an impressive debut! This was such a page turner for me and I loved it, perhaps way more than I expected to!

It was harrowing to read about how women was treated - as though women are a thing, a test subject. If you‘re not following rules set by men of the house, then you‘re mental. So off to the mental hospital you go.

Some of the scenes thoroughly broke me and made me so terribly mad. Must read. Five solid stars!

#balls #200pnpcovers @CrowCAH @mabell

I wouldn't be me if I didn't join this one 🤣

Another book of history and terror. Very well done!!

#victoriamas #themadwomensball #historicalfiction

Salpêtrière has changed since the arrival of Professor Charcot twenty years ago, that only genuine hysterics are locked up nowadays. But... Twenty years is a short span in which to change the deep-rooted convictions of a society governed by fathers and husbands. No woman can be certain that her words, her aspirations, her personality will not lead to her being shut away behind the fearsome walls of the hospital in the thirteenth arrondissement.

Hysteria, doctor Charcot, Salpêtriere hospital, hypnosis, 19th century Paris, the birth of psychiatry are a setting... This novel adresses the question of the thin line between sickness and health and shows, by telling the story of three women, that mental illness is often a social construction.

Wonderful gothic story though maddening at the treatment of women in the past. I always enjoy a book in translation, especially French ones.

The title of this book is deceptive. There is very little content to do with The Mad Women's Ball. Which was... a bummer. On the upside, I did Google like crazy to learn more about it.
The book is very character driven & tells the story of a bright girl, Eugenie, who is visited by spirits. This gift gets her sent to the asylum in Paris where she meets a nurse named Genevieve & finds the gift that made her a prisoner may also set her free. ⭐⭐⭐✨

"Dreams are dangerous things, Louise. Especially when they depend on someone else."

So freaking excited! This is one of my most anticipated book of the fall. Is this on anyone else's TBR?

I really liked this story. It felt appropriate to be reading a book about the systemic way men have controlled women‘s bodies and minds over the centuries. This is also a great read for the spooky season.

#ARC U.S. pub date 9/7

Every page an absolute zinger. #TheMadWomensBall

I received an ARC of this book from Goodreads in exchange for an honest review.
The Mad Women's Ball is a really quick read at around 200 pages. The characters were interesting and entertaining. The story moved quickly and I rather enjoyed this book. A solid 3 star good book.

Goodreads giveaway win #arc #bookmail
The Mad Women's Ball by Victoria Mas

In this historical fiction, not translated into English, the author shares the fate of several women confined to the mental institution of La Salpêtrière.
I really enjoyed this book which evokes the frailty of women condition in the 19th cent. The author shows how inhumane the system is, and gives a moving portrait of these women.
Now, I want to read non-fiction on this subject!