The Mad Women's Ball

The Mad Women's Ball / Victoria Mas
trans. from the French by Frank Wynne
NY: Abrams, 2021, c2019.
224 p.

The system of asylums that took care of the problem of women who didn't want to fit into their family expectations existed in France as well as England and other countries too. Victoria Mas has created a novel full of dread and powerlessness and also the voices of the dead. 

Genevieve is a nurse at the Salpetriere Asylum in Paris, 1885. After her sister Blandine died young, she gave up religious beliefs and turned to science. She's a no-nonense nurse and guardian to the mad women in the asylum. 

However, as usual in this era, many of the women at the asylum are simply poor, unwanted, or troublesome wives or daughters who are being conveniently disposed of. One of these is Eugenie, a 19 year old daughter of the bourgeoisie who has been committed after telling her family that she can communicate with spirits. The fact is, however, that she can. 

Eugenie begins to pass messages on to Genevieve from Blandine, shaking Genevieve's worldview. And slowly she is won over to Eugenie's plans to escape the asylum, and agrees to help her. 

The book is told in a dreamy fashion, highlighting the era and the varied women in the asylum. My impression of the book is of a dusty, sunlight room full of women imprisoned and dispirited. The big moment of the year is the titular Mad Women's Ball, at which society attends a large party and views all the mad women decked out in finery for one night of the year. The fuss this causes seems like the perfect moment to plan an escape. But is the crowd a help or hindrance in this plan? 

This novel has a quiet air, a historical aura that makes it feel like a sliver of the past. It reminds me of a few French Canadian novels that I've read in tone and pacing -- particularly those of Dominique Fortier.  It's a fascinating premise and I think works well. The style is sparse, not overly packed with detail, so you have space to imagine and make your own decisions about spirits and asylums and who is acting in good faith or not. 

There's also been a movie made from this book, although I think it's only available via Amazon Prime so if you have access to that you'll have to tell me how good it was ;) 

I liked this one -- picked it up only because it came across the desk at work and that cover caught my eye. But recommended if you're in the mood for a slower paced historical novel examining women's lives in 19th century Paris.