Oh My Goodness!

This book packs a powerful punch that smacked me in the gut, there's a real shocker of a twist that I really didn't anticipate until just a chapter or two before it is to be revealed I began to have a nauseous sense that there was something coming that I hadn't been expecting .... then wham!

But I digress, it's hardly surprising that my thoughts are a little muddled having just spent several days locked in the mind of a woman incarcerated in a lunatic asylum.

This woman is Edith Potter, daughter of the renowned Dr Potter leader in the field of examining the psychological impact of shell shock following the first world war.

Spinster Edith lives alone, since her father was murdered by an unknown intruder, no wonder she is jumpy and nervous living in the very house where he was killed.

It's clear from the onset that Ediths mind is a little disturbed, she has secrets and has built a wall to keep them away, but this is to become her undoing and one day she flips completely and ends up an inmate in a cruel and uncaring mental asylum where she is catatonic and unresponsive.

In comes Dr Stephen Maynard, young and ambitious he hears of Edith and her plight and decides she will be the perfect subject for him to test his theories using the new-fangled psychoanalysis to try and help her. But is he about to unleash more than he can cope with? As he starts to break down the walls that surround Edith and she begins to respond we realize that she is harbouring a few terrible secrets which she needs to keep buried at all costs.

There is quite a lot of detail about psychoanalysis as we delve inside the mind of this deeply disturbed yet very intelligent woman and at several points throughout the book I really thought it was me that was going inasne, so deeply does the author make us feel the despair and confusion of a deeply damaged psyche.

The story is rather disjointed but this all adds to the feel of unease, uncertainty and a terrible sense of madness. When I discovered the final secret she is keeping hidden, it both shocked and saddened me. This is a thoroughly great historical look at mental health issues and a twisty psychological thriller combined. It is dark and scary and despite the despair I loved it. Highly recommended.

I found Walls of Silence a long read but at the same time a very interesting and fascinating read! A one of a kind story to which I have not read anything similar, so cannot compare. I did find it took myself a while to get into the story but well worth the read and finishing. Parts of this story I found were dark and disturbing especially the opening, but thats what drags the reader in.

I also love the cover of this book! A historical thriller investigating mental health. I awarded a fair four stars, I would recommend this story to you all but I understand it may not be to all readers tastes as it took me a while to finish myself.

Ruth Wade has also written the May Keaps series under the pen name BK Duncan, which I have recently read and reviewed and the reviews can be found on my blog. A brilliant series. A brilliant author who has put a lot of time and research into all her stories.

I've always had a bit of a fascination when it comes to asylum's so reading the blurb for this book definitely piqued my interest.

The story is set into different parts. We first meet Edith when she is going about her every day life. She is a spinster and lives on her own. As with most small villages, everyone knows everyones business and Edith tries to keep herself to herself. 

Stephen becomes fixated with Edith. He is determined to break and fix her. She isn't like most of his patients and he knows as well as us that there is something dark and disturbing that is buried deep in her mind and I was as desperate as him to know just what that was.

Edith is a hard person to take to. What ever has happened to her she wants to forget about it. She also doesn't want anyone else's help. She has built a wall around her and so I did find it hard to empathise with her at times.

Walls Of Silence is one of those slow burners that with a build up of intrigue, keeps you turning those pages. It certainly held some surprises in store of which I totally did not see coming. The perfect read for lovers of a solid historical mystery.

A very engaging book that looks into the history of mental health and how family secrets can shape peoples lives. I absolutely loved that the book is based in Sussex as this is my home town.
At the start of the book we meet Edith Potter who has lost her father at the hands of an intruder. Before his death Dr potter was diagnosed with dementia and Edith had become his carer. This being a traumatic time come clear when Edith's thought and feeling don't improve after a year, in fact slowly her mind is taking over her actions.
Edith is committed to a lunatic asylum and meets Dr Stephen Maynard who wants to change the way Edith has become, even without her help.
Set in the 1926, it's so clear from the language used like lunatic that mental health support is much more advanced than it was. The other doctors think Dr Stephen is strange when he said he wanted to make a different, they believe every person who comes to the asylum will remain till they die, its to keep them safe from the outside world and the outside world from them.
if you're into the history of psychoanalysis then this is the book for you. A little slow burner that truly opened up into a brilliant read.