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Reviewed by Keith Mbuya for Readers' Favorite
It is the summer of 1905. Owen Townsend, a young Ivy League-educated doctor related to a prominent family in New York City, is at a park with his fiancée, Maude, when he has a psychotic episode, wreaks havoc, and blacks out. Having recently been discharged from treatment for a deadly typhoid fever infection, he was home resting before resuming his internship at Columbia. However, from the damage he caused, doctors diagnosed him with schizophrenia and recommended that he be sent to Fairmount Lodge, an asylum in Pennsylvania. Owen’s father is running for the governor’s office. He quickly agrees to send him away, since Owen’s presence at home would mean more attention from the newspapers, which would hurt his campaign. At Fairmount Lodge, Owen is determined to prove he is not sick and earn back his life and freedom. But first, he must follow the subtle clues behind the strange events at the asylum after his arrival, ranging from fires to random deaths. Find out more in Dance in a Madhouse by Jess Wright.
The author took me back to early twentieth-century America. Each character at Fairmount Lodge seemed to be hiding a secret. I found it interesting that the patients in the asylum were aware of their circumstances. This and the way the narrative blurs the lines between reality and imagination made me question my whole perception of mental illness. Celeste showed me the complex relationship between trauma and mental illness. The story exposes the shortcomings of psychiatry in the early 1900s and how limited information about various drugs and treatments affected people. It also highlights how unfairly society handled the mentally ill. If you are looking for a psychological thriller laced with drama, suspense, plot twists, mystery, and an unravelling tale of tragic romance and sabotage, Dance in a Madhouse by Jess Wright is a perfect pick.
