I really enjoyed the way that the themes of mental health were tackled in this book
Unfortunately I failed to connect with the characters.
The pace also felt very slow

"Where Madness Lies" is a compelling story of family and history that weaves together experiences from two different points in time. Inga's struggle to heal and protect her mentally ill sister as the Nazis rise to power in Germany is mirrored years later—though under much different circumstances—as she tries to support her granddaughter who has just admitted herself to a mental hospital in Massachusetts. The story jumps back and forth in time (between 1934/1984) as we slowly learn the events of the past and how they have influenced the future.

There's so much heart depicted in the relationships and a compelling depth to all the characters, even those that could be considered secondary or tertiary to the main plot. I would highly recommend this book—it speaks not only to the horrors of the Holocaust and eugenics; it forces the reader to grapple with questions of ethics and complicity. At what point do your actions (or inaction) make you complicit? What secrets do you/should you keep to protect those around you?

It's not a light read, but an important one. And it's especially compelling knowing that this fictionalized account is based on events from the author's life.

3.5 stars Heartbreaking and emotional, this is hard to read in places. To understand what happened in these times is so important and this story shows how much these people and families went through.

This was a powerful, moving story that touches on some very tough topics, while spanning two generations. The story revolves around Inga in a way - she's a link between the 30s and the 80s, the one trying to save the women involved. True does an excellent job of bringing the characters and story to life, and a few times I had to stop and take some deep grounding breaths because I just got too wrapped up in the book. True did a great job with the mental health aspect, without glossing over everything. A novel all women's fiction lovers should read.

The treatment of those with mental health issues in Nazi Germany is something that isn’t written about as often as many of the other targeted groups, and it wasn’t something that I knew very much about, so I was intrigued by the premise of this book.

The dreadful treatment and murder of the mentally ill in Germany is told through the story of Rigmor, who is sent to Sorrenstein mental hospital by her family who hope to ease her struggles. What they don’t realise is that they are putting her in harm’s way.

We also meet Sabine, who, in the early 1980s, is suffering from depression after the birth of her baby, and who is helped by her grandmother, Inga, Rigmor’s sister.

The story begins quite slowly, and I wasn’t gripped at first, but then the pace picked up and what was happening became clearer, and from about a third of the way through, I couldn’t put the book down.

It is so well written, so heartfelt, and so brutally honest that at times you want to look away, but it is so important that these stories are remembered and told, and given the respect they deserve, even more so in this current climate when we seem to be blind to our past and slipping back into the prejudices and hatreds that were the root cause of the rise of fascism in the thirties. It is scary to think that we are following those same horrible paths, and books like these are so important in reminding us of exactly what we have to lose.

A haunting tale that took me a while to read only because I needed to process everything. Loved going from a now to before and the family ties that bind us! 10/10 recommend!!

I definitely enjoyed this book. It was a bit slow but I still kept reading to see where the story went. I would recommend this book to others like like this genre.

Where Madness Lies by Sylvia True

9781789044607

344 Pages
Publisher: John Hunt Publishing Ltd
Release Date: January 29, 2021

Fiction, Historical Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Mental Illness, Holocaust, Eugenics

Inga and Rigmor are sisters in Germany 1934. Rigmor suffers from mental illness. Igna does research and tries to find ways to treat Rigmor’s condition. It is difficult being Jewish during this time especially if you are dealing with mental health issues. You are considered deficient, and the answer was sterilization. In present time, Sabine is a new mother suffering from panic attacks and depression. Inga is the connection between the past and the present.

The story has a steady pace although there was a lot of jumping back and forth. The characters are developed, and it was written in the third person point of view. This was a difficult subject matter for me. have dealt with mental health issues in my family and the thought of what Rigmor went through is appalling. This was a hard but important read. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in historical fiction.

** spoiler alert ** This was a difficult book to get into - because the suffering is just so raw on the pages, and it really does something to you. The opening pages themselves have the rather gruesome murder of a cat happen, and the fact we're told just after that it was all a hallucination does not make it any better because you just lived and experienced that poor cat's death in your mind! The same thing continues with the mental illness depicted in the book - so please know this can be a very upsetting if at times traumatizing read (kinda get the feeling a trigger warning should've been present front & center!)
*review copy obtained in exchange for a review by the publisher via Netgalley - all opinions are honestly my own*

I really wanted to love this book, as it sounded so interesting. But unfortunately for me the pace was just far too slow, and I never really felt connected to any of the characters. It's a shame as it sounded fascinating and is about a time in history that I am normally very interested in, but for me this just didn't work.

Disclaimer - I was fortunate enough to be provided with an advance reading copy of this book by NetGalley. This has not affected my review in any way, and all opinions are my own.

I enjoy lifting the sitgma around mental health but this was sadly not for me.
The characters had no growth and i felt the pace to be very slow.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to review this book. This was at times a difficult read but most definitely a necessary read.

Where Madness Lies by Sylvia True
Rating 4.25/ 5 Stars
Published By Top Hat Books
Published On 1st of February 2021


Thank you to Netgalley, Top Hat Books, and Sylvia True for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review!

Where Madness Lies is a beautiful and important book about a subject often forgotten about in historical fiction - especially the area of The Holocaust and World War II. Having a focus on eugenics, the sterilization and euthanasia of those mentally ill or otherwise not meeting the “wanted traits” to pass on to future German generations, this area of history is just another one of the darker parts of the Holocaust - equally important to the other previously discussed in historical fiction.

We follow 2 timelines - connected by this dark act - 1934 and 1984. Rigmor and Inga are the daughters of wealthy Jewish parents. Rigmor deals with mental illness and Inga helps take care of her. When the Nazis rise to power, Rigmor becomes a target of the eugenics movement. In 1984, Inga’s granddaughter Sabine was admitted into a psych hospital in the US. Rigmor’s story has never been told and it is now that the truth about the past comes to light.

The writing in this book is wonderful and with the story being equally as compelling, it was a fast and emotional read. The stories are well developed and keep you reading. It is emotional, you will cry!

This is a difficult book to review because how can you say you’ve “enjoyed” a book about mental illness, eugenics, Nazi hatred, ignorance… And yet the book is somehow beautiful. It is heart warming and reassuring and incredibly well written. Ms True has said it is based on her family history and that did give it an additional edge. Thinking even part of this might be “real” - not the eugenics or murder as we all know that is too real - while being written by a descendent is heart breaking.

Sabine goes into a mental hospital in 1980’s America and this prompts a visit from her grandmother. The grandmother, Inga, then has her story told and the two timeframes run in parallel. It is very easy to follow and the two stories mesh well. Inga had a sister who was in a psychiatric hospital during World War II and she and a doctor, Arnold, are dedicated to her care. The story unfolds slowly and at all times we are clear who is who. The ending is satisfying and somehow enriching.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for depth and characterisation and damn good storytelling - with an edge of pain throughout.

I was given a copy of this book by Netgalley in return for an honest review

I adored this book.

The dual narratives create a compelling story, their parallels and differences playing out to create a story I couldn't put down.

Sabine, battling crippling panic and depression in 1980s America, triggers an opportunity for her grandmother Inga to revisit and make peace with the tragic story of her sister Rigmor, a Jewish girl in 1930s Germany.

Yes, Rigmor's story is a hard one to read. That is deals with mental health and Jewishness in pre-War Germany should be enough to give a clue as to how it will pan out, but the story is by no means straightforward.

Sabine, Inga and Rigmor are beautifully drawn and fully formed. Sabine and Inga's relationship is complex, but you genuinely feel the developments as the story unfolds. Ultimately, Inga's journey is one of acceptance and a second chance. There's hope, there's redemption, there's heartbreak and acceptance. And I loved it.

This book is based on the author’s own family. In my opinion, that makes me more invested in the story, which involves suffering, mental health issues and the inhumanity of the Nazi regime. At first I had a hard time traveling between the two different times as well as the names in the lives of this family. Everything became more clear as the story went on.
I thought this book was very well written and interesting. I highly recommend Where the Madness Lies.

Thank you to #NetGalley, the publisher and author for this book and all opinions are my own.

This was a fascinating book, , at times hard to read, but equally hard to put down. Two women suffering mental illness one during WW11 when Hitler was rising to power and her descendant in the 20th century in the USA. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and commend tge writer on a tale well told

While I do not think this is a bad book, I did not enjoy it as much as I expected. Where Madness Lies tells the story of two sisters, Inga and Rigmor, living in Germany in the 1930s before the rise of the Nazi regime. They are from a wealthy Jewish family and are pretty well off, except for one thing: Rigmor deals with mental health issues which back in the day were not understood. Besides this, the family soon faces the growing fascist ideas from Hitler, who considers all mental illness a sign of weakness and thus, all those patients who suffer from it have no right to live. Fifty years later Inga is still alive and is confronted with the fact that mental illness run through her family and the truth is necessary to help her grandfather, Sabine, who has just been institutionalized at the psychiatric ward. The story goes back and forth between Inga and Rigmor’s lives and Sabine’s present fifty years later, and as the story progress we unveil what happened to Rigmor, the cruelty of the Nazi regime to those deemed feebleminded, and how the truth will encourage Sabine to deal with her health.

As I said, the book is not bad but personally, I felt something was missing. The first half of the book I was completely immersed in the story of all characters and I found the historical context of the story to be gripping. There are indeed many stories set in WWII but I think this is one of the first books I’ve encountered that focuses on many of the other atrocities committed by the Nazi regime against other minority groups. That said, I think what did not work out for me was the two storylines –while Sabine’s story was interesting, I felt nothing really happened on the chapters dedicated to it. Yes, we do learn from Inga’s concern toward her granddaughter and how accompanying Sabine will in the end bring closure to what happened to her sister half a century ago, but I felt this plotline could have been shortened or told differently –for example, as a confession from Inga to Sabine once she was on treatment, etc. I was so invested on Rigmor’s story that when we switched to the present, it completely threw me off. I would have preferred to have all the story set in the past and thus explore a bit more of the social and cultural context of Germany in the mid-1930s, before the rise of Hitler and for example, how Rigmor’s family dealt with friends and society having a member with mental health issues.

I liked all of characters because they felt very real but the only one I have a comment on is Arnold. He is a psychiatrist and Inga contacts him to try to cure Rigmor. Soon we find out he is attracted to men so he must hid this as well, as homosexuality is also forbidden by the Nazi regime. Arnold soon becomes close to both sisters and will play a key role in Rigmor’s life but to be honest –I did not understand why he was portrayed as a gay man. Not because it is wrong but because it added nothing to the story –he could have been perfectly straight and we could have had something more dramatic in terms of the characters’ relationships but well… I won´t add much because of spoilers).

Overall, this is a well-written book, fast-paced and quite innovative in the topic it addressed, brining fresh air to WWII historical fiction that is very need. Personally, and as I mentioned, what did not work out for me was the dual timeline and by the last chapters of the book I was a bit tired and not very interested in Sabine’s story. But as said, that is only a personal preference and this book might be enjoyed by most readers.

I have always been fascinated with early treatments for mental illness. The various ideas and techniques used were sometimes based in science, but more often, driven by ego and occasionally, evil. This book takes that on as the rising power of Hitler emphasizes the doctrines of eugenics in order to justify their treatment of Jews, people with mental and psychological disabilities, and other minority groups.

This book fueled my interest of psychology's history, but left me wanting more. The book is primarily focused on the character development of two main characters (Sabine and Rigmor), separated by generations, but linked through their battle with mental illness. It's a beautiful story and it comes to an even more beautiful ending. If you love reading about intergenerational relationships and enjoy historical fiction, go pick this one up!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced digital copy of this book in exchange for my review.

I started this book and then had to put it aside. It was not that the writing was poor or the story boring. It was exactly the opposite. I found myself too embroiled in the reality of the tale and had to take a moratorium before I could complete it. Perhaps there were elements of the story that were too close to home but I am glad that I persevered with this disturbing and deeply moving book.

Told from the perspective of two women five decades and an ocean apart. It begins with Inga and her sister Rigmor, two young Jewish women trying to survive in a world turned upside down by the Nazis. They have another problem that eventually overwhelms them. Rigmor suffers from mental illness. If there was one thing that was worse in the Nazi universe than being Jewish, it was having mental issues.

Their story rotates back and forth with another woman suffering from mental illness. New mother, Sabine, cannot cope and seeks help at an institution. She is Inga’s granddaughter who has been estranged from Inga all her life. When Inga arrives to “help” little does either woman know that in revealing the tragedy surrounding Rigmor and the young psychiatrist who tried to help her, they would both find they are not alone and that there is hope. It is an intensely moving and deeply disturbing tale. While it is in novel form, the author admits that it was plucked out of the history of her own family.

I do give the book five purrs and two paws up, but do not approach it if you are not in the right frame of mind. The story will rock you in so many different ways.