Title: Wildthorn
Author: Jane Eagland
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Date (to be) Published: September 2010
Synopsis: (from Publisher’s website)
They strip her naked, of everything–undo her whalebone corset, hook by hook. Locked away in Wildthorn Hall–a madhouse–they take her identity. She is now called Lucy Childs. She has no one; she has nothing. But, she is still seventeen–still Louisa Cosgrove, isn’t she? Who has done this unthinkable deed? Louisa must free herself, in more ways than one, and muster up the courage to be her true self, all the while solving her own twisted mystery and falling into an unconventional love …
Where Did It Come From?
I requested this book from NetGalley to read on my e-reader.
Why Did I Choose This Book?
This book had an interesting premise and I love historical fiction especially if it’s set in an asylum or other uncommon situation.
My Review:
Overall I can’t give this book more than a 3 out of 5. The story was interesting, but without the flashbacks and the development of the characters through them, this book wouldn’t have been worth reading at all. It had a pretty typical storyline, and most of the scenes were extremely predictable.
It starts out well with a headstrong young girl, Louisa, who wants to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a doctor. Unfortunately, she lives in a time when this was not the way a young woman should behave or even consider anything other than settling down to marry and have children. The story starts out with her being taken to live with a family her brother has set her up with, but instead she finds herself put away in Wildthorn Hall, an institution. She flashes back to previous times when things were good with her family and before her father passes away. He encourages her in her ‘experiments’ and thirst for knowledge, but once he is gone, her brother sees to it that this ‘nonsense’ is stopped.
The love story that attempts to hold this story together towards the end does nothing to add to the story and the very end I found to be quite ridiculous. I felt as through Eagland was trying to wrap everything up in a tidy little box and without too much going for it already, the story felt weak.
But you don’t have to take my word for it:
