A stunning 4-star gothic fiction with a rich exploration into life for a woman in 1906, The Asylum by Karen Coles may be for you…

The plot:

1906: Being a woman is dangerous, being different is deadly. 

Maud Lovell has been at Angelton Lunatic Asylum for five years. She is not sure how she came to be there and knows nothing beyond its four walls. She is hysterical, distressed, untrustworthy. Badly unstable and prone to violence. Or so she has been told.

When a new doctor arrives, keen to experiment with the revolutionary practice of medical hypnosis, Maud’s lack of history makes her the perfect case study. But as Doctor Dimmond delves deeper into the past, it becomes clear that confinement and high doses are there to keep her silent.

When Maud finally remembers what has been done to her, and by whom, her mind turns to her past and to revenge.

This book deserves your whole attention

I actually stayed up late reading this, and then woke up early the next day to read some more (and if you know me, that’s saying something!).

This plot is incredibly well thought through, and whilst it presents some challenging topics, it also brings to light beautiful characters – all with the gothic edge.

I found that I couldn’t pull my eyes away from the page – the writing is poetic, seeping with imagery to drag you in; the chapters feature flashbacks for Maud, which teases you with information and continues to become eye-opening and just ‘wow’. These flashbacks are intense and left me hanging on Coles’ every word.

The author really brings the story to life in front of you – I could envision everything (although at sometimes I wish I couldn’t!) and the characters just seeps out of the page into your life – I’ll definitely be thinking about the protagonist regularly.

The ending – everything I could’ve wanted. I often find that endings are so rushed nowadays, and whilst The Asylum remained pacey and those pages had to keep turning, it wasn’t rushed and just felt so satisfying as a reader.

This is a strong, strong 4-stars, and the only reason it didn’t hit the full 5 for me, was that the surrounding characters in the asylum could’ve played a bigger part, or even more exploration into the medicine (although there are some gnarly paragraphs).

I knew this book was going to tick boxes, but I didn’t realise how many. This book deserves your whole attention, and what a rollercoaster ride – LOVED!

If you’re looking for something in-between Laura Purcell and Bridget Collins, this is it – this will 100% make sense when – not if – you read it. SO ready for more by this author.

The Asylum, Karen Coles, RRP £8.99 (paperback); Book Depository 

Pages: 368

Publisher: Welbeck

Genre: Gothic Fiction