Stevie‘s review of House of Silence by Sarah Barthel
Historical Suspense published by Kensington 27 Dec 16
I don’t know a great deal about life for the upper echelons of society in the US during the decades immediately following the Civil War, although I’ve gathered bits and pieces from reading about those heiresses who travelled to Britain and elsewhere in search of Old World, usually titled, husbands. This book’s blurb, therefore, caught my attention, particularly with its setting of a sanitarium – of the type reserved for those with diseases of the mind more than the body. The involvement of real historical figures playing secondary roles in the plot only really came to my notice after I started reading, and then got to know them through the book’s heroine.
Isabelle Larkin is excited to be getting engaged to the eligible bachelor, and rising political star, Gregory Gallagher, although she is saddened that her best friend will not be sharing her happy day – since she plans to elope with a man both girls’ mothers disapprove of due to his father’s actions during the war. During the party, Isabelle witnesses Gregory arguing with an unknown servant woman, and later the same woman approaches Isabelle, claiming to have information about Gregory’s past. Before the women can meet up, however, Isabelle sees Gregory kill his nemesis. She tries to get help, but is overcome by the exertion; when she comes to, everyone around her believes Gregory to be the hero who saved Isabelle from assault by a stranger but was unable to save that same villain’s first victim.
No one gives any credit to Isabelle’s alternative version of events, and her mother insists she go ahead with the wedding. Isabelle’s only way of escape, it seems, is to pretend to be so mad that Gregory will never want to marry her. Isabelle’s mother, horrified by her daughter’s behaviour, ships her quietly off to a highly recommended sanitarium, whose doctors have dealt with far more challenging cases successfully in the past. There Isabelle is befriended by a number of the staff as well as several of her fellow inmates, including the widow of the assassinated President, sent to the institution by her one surviving son.
Mary Lincoln enjoys a number of privileges denied to more ordinary patients and is able to take Isabelle out on excursions with her, leading to Isabelle’s discovery that Gregory is searching for her: with the aim, she thinks, of silencing her for good, but also enabling her to dig out more information regarding the past Gregory is trying to conceal.
I loved the various intertwining plots: the mystery of Gregory’s past, the suspense of whether he will find Isabelle and how she will ever convince others to believe her story, the parallel stories concerning Isabelle’s best friend and the backgrounds of the other patients. Isabelle even finds herself a more deserving suitor, albeit one unlikely to win her mother’s approval. All in all, a most excellent book by an author I’d love to read more from.
Grade: A
Summary:
Oak Park, Illinois, 1875. Isabelle Larkin’s future—like that of every young woman—hinges upon her choice of husband. She delights her mother by becoming engaged to Gregory Gallagher, who is charismatic, politically ambitious, and publicly devoted. But Isabelle’s visions of a happy, profitable match come to a halt when she witnesses her fiancé commit a horrific crime—and no one believes her.
Gregory denies all, and Isabelle’s mother insists she marry as planned rather than drag them into scandal. Fearing for her life, Isabelle can think of only one escape: she feigns a mental breakdown that renders her mute, and is brought to Bellevue sanitarium. There she finds a friend in fellow patient Mary Todd Lincoln, committed after her husband’s assassination.
In this unlikely refuge, the women become allies, even as Isabelle maintains a veneer of madness for her own protection. But sooner or later, she must reclaim her voice. And if she uses it to expose the truth, Isabelle risks far more than she could ever imagine.
Weaving together a thread of finely tuned suspense with a fascinating setting and real-life figures, Sarah Barthel’s debut is historical fiction at its most evocative and compelling.
Read an excerpt.
