A solid 4/5. It would be super interesting to read the book in its original language to see how it differs and that’s exactly what I plan to do. Going into the book I had no idea about any of the happenings described and so this has prompted me to do research. I loved the way that it explored not only gender roles in the nineteenth century, but, also science and how research was handled at the time. I definitely recommend.

This is a translated text and while the story is important and frustrating and difficult to consume, I think ultimately the flow of the narration and writing fell short for me. It reads like a translated text, which is to say that I think a lot of the rhythm and poetry in the French language is lost in translation. It is still a good story, but I wasn't captivated by the writing, or any particular character. So although it has a lot of promise, it fell just a little flat for me. I would still recommend this to anyone interested in the maltreatment of women throughout world history.

CW: depictions of sexual assault

Tragic yet beautifully written, Victoria Mas delivers us The Mad Women’s Ball, a novel depicting the horrors faced by female patients of an infamous asylum in 19th Century Paris. The patients are women tossed aside by their families as well as society, left to their hysterics away from the public sphere. The story follows a jaded, cynical head nurse and a new unwilling patient, a young woman who can see and hear spirits. The latter is determined to escape while the former struggles with her mounting doubt.
Within the Salpetriere Asylum hundreds of women reside as patients under the watchful eye of the head nurse, Genevieve—a woman who, at her core, is already different from her peers from the onset. Having spurned religion and the idea of God from an early age, she’s driven further away by the untimely death of her younger sister. How could her devout sister die when a godless wretch like herself was allowed to live? Instead, she puts her faith and trust in science and the outstanding men in the field. Genevieve keeps the patients at a distance and while she isn’t known for kind words, the patients look to her to keep them safe.
When Eugenie is unwillingly admitted it’s clear that she, too, is different from her peers. From a young age she’s been able to communicate with spirits, only for it to drain her so entirely she’s left exhausted. Small communities of spiritualists are cropping up all around Paris, though the upper class patently refuses to acknowledge its legitimacy. Institutionalized with little hope of help from her family, Eugenie makes it her mission to escape. She slowly gains Genevieve’s confidence, but it is a battle not easily won.
Madness is subjective. Eugenie was rebellious but altogether sane. Genevieve, too, was entirely sane until she was caught helping Eugenie escape. It took mere moments for their claim on sanity to be revoked by someone other than themselves. There’s a sense of claustrophobia one gets when reading The Mad Women’s Ball. While the grounds are vast and are often described as its own small village, the interior of the asylum feels too closed in. Women aren’t permitted to walk the halls without a chaperone or expressed permission. Eugenie is dragged back and forth between the dormitory—where there are 50someodd beds—and isolation in a room where the only light comes through pinpricks in worm eaten rotted wood. Lecture halls are filled with men hoping to witness one of Dr. Charcot’s sessions of hypnosis.
As someone who has spent my own time in mental wards, I was at once intrigued and apprehensive of the story. The level of public interest in the patients at the asylum didn’t shock me—the proclivity of rich people to gawk at anything not like them is pretty par for the course of history. The Lenten Ball as an event to showcase these madwomen didn’t sit right with me, nor did the behavior of any of the male characters. Very few of them were actively present within the plot and those who were had nothing to redeem them. Even Eugenie’s brother, torn asunder with guilt as he was, still allowed his cowardice to dictate his actions.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3. After reading the description on netgalley, I smashed that “read now” button and found myself significantly underwhelmed. This book should have been right in my wheelhouse. However, I found it dull and inspired and forced myself to finish. Maybe something was lost in translation…

This is a well written book that addresses the treatment of women in 1889 Paris. Where women, whose fates are entirely controlled by men, are committed to a sanatorium for things such as grieving too hard or being independent.

Once a year the Lenten or Mad Woman’s Ball takes place where only the elite of Paris are invited to view and mingle with the women under the care of the notorious Dr. Charcot. I enjoyed the story, but wish Eugenie’s character had better development. I would have gladly read a longer version that delved deeper in to all of the characters back stories. I read this book in two days, and would have finished it in one if not for pesky things like work.

I recommend pre-ordering it as it comes out in September of this year. Readers of Lisa Jewell would enjoy this book.
TW: Rape/Mental Illness/PNES

Thank you to NetGalley, ABRAMS, The Overlook Press and the author for this free digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

A short read, I read it over the course of the afternoon.

As much as I can see how it will adapt well to a movie, I found myself not the biggest fan of this novel. The story is…dull. The characters bored me. And while there is some discussion of spiritualism and a slight fantasy element, even that wasn’t fleshed out

The Mad Women's Ball by Victoria Mas is about the historically appalling treatment of women by men and how those women react to it. It is a short read. I applaud the message of women's inequality, but I believe the story could have been developed further to provide a better reader experience. More showing and less telling would have shaped the narrative into something of interest rather than permitting it to lie flat. I look forward to reading the author's future work.

I was not a huge fan of this book. I think this had a lot of potential and could have been really good but it lacked a lot of things. It lacked the factor that kept you wanting to keep reading, it lacked interesting characters, and it lacked the wow factor. The whole book we keep hearing about this ball that is to happen with the mad women being the spectacle and so you have a lot of expectations for this ball. Then at the end of the book I got to the ball scene and it was literally like 10 pages and was super boring and did not wow me at all. I would have loved for the ball to be this crazy thing that was like a circus or something but it just wasn’t that. It was literally just a regular party and nothing is described in detail. I found the scenes that took place out side of the hospital boring and I just wanted to skip over them. The only enjoyable parts for me were just the parts in the hospital and following Eugenie. Don't get me wrong I think this would be interesting to someone that was maybe doing research or just wanted to learn more about how women were so controlled and suppressed then. But that was just not what I was looking for so that is why it didn't work for me.

I tend to read a lot of books detailing the poor treatment of women over the centuries and The Mad Women's Ball did not disappoint! The Salpetriere Asylum: Paris, 1885 is where we find the "mad women" or rather, women who have become an inconvenience to the world outside. Some of the women do have health issues, but most have been put away by the men in their lives who are now finding them troublesome. Genevieve is a nurse who has been working at the asylum for twenty years. She has hardened herself to what she sees, but in her small studio at night, she writes letters to her long-dead sister. Eugenie has been put into the asylum by her father once he was told (by Eugenie's grandmother) that Eugenie sees and hears spirits. Eugenie knows she must find a way out and the one person she decides to trust is Genevieve and that opens up a new world view to both Eugenie and Genevieve. A beautifully crafted story about what happened to independent women in what sometimes feels like the distant past and at other times feels very much in the present.

It's been awhile since I picked up a historical fiction novel, so I'm glad this is the one I chose! Mas weaves an impeccably fascinating web of characters within the halls of Paris' insane asylum for women. The book highlights the horrors women in these asylums were subjected to, both from men and from other women, but also introduced the aspect of safety offered by the asylum in a world where men posed endless threats to women. These duel views greatly intrigued me, as the idea that an insane asylum could possibly become a safe haven for certain women against the world outside had never occurred to me before. Overall, I enjoyed the ambiance of the novel, the characters intrigued me and the addition of the paranormal made it a wonderful read.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Overlook Press for my copy of The Mad Woman’s Ball by Victoria Mas in exchange for an honest review. It publishes September 7, 2021.
This book is translated and I felt like a lot was lost in the translation. I think a lot of this book stems from the beauty of the words, and from French to English may just not provide the meat that was originally there.
The story itself is interesting, although I would’ve loved some more insight into the characters, I was very interested and wanted more! Although perhaps that was on purpose, to leave one waiting.

Review to come. Thanks to Kimberly Lew and Abrams books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Publication date September 7, 2021
#TheMadWomensBall #Netgalley

I really enjoyed The Mad Woman’s Ball. It was a quick read, but the characters wove together well and you could really feel the emotion and complexity of the women in the novel.

3.5 stars rounded to 4 stars. Interesting story about women being committed to mental institutions for having opinions or showing emotion. Highly recommend.

A fascinating, beautifully written historical novel based on fact. Set in a Paris asylum in 1885, I couldn't put this down.

I really enjoyed this novel. It was a fascinating glimpse into a specific place and time in history, and provided much food for thought on the subjects of feminism, sanity, independence, spiritualism, and courage. I expect it will be popular, and I will definitely be recommending it.

A Dark, harrowing period of time for French women. The idea that you could be locked away for awful things that happen to you, or because you dared to show emotion, wow!

This is a suspenseful look at a woman of intelligence who can see spirits who gets locked away in the Salpetriere and the long time Matron whose own demons are tightly guarded but become unraveled by Eugenie. Everything she has believed in, from the charismatic doctor who runs the place, to the superiority of science, is questioned during her first interaction with Eugenie who can see the spirits of the dead.

Beautifully written characters and descriptions, bring this period of time alive for the reader. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

Ah I wanted so much more from this book! Nothing was pushed far enough. I wanted the stakes to be much much higher. It felt like a first draft that really needed someone to give it a real kicking. Everything was a bit too easy. Shame because it's such a great premise.

The last few books I've read made me realize that if I'd lived in past times, I'd probably be hanged as a witch or locked up in an insane asylum. The Madwomen's Ball is one of those books.

The book made me so grateful that it is okay to be weird today.

This is a historical fiction and ghost story based on a real insane asylum for women and it's annual ball where the women were displayed like a carnival sideshow. Some of the women were mentally ill, but many were there because their families wanted to rid themselves of opinionated women and girls. Others had epilepsy so families hid them away. Most of the women and girls were never released.

At this Paris asylum the only thing most had to look forward to was the annual Lenten Ball, also known as "The Mad Women's Ball." Even though they looked forward to it, the attendees from the outside world came hoping to see a freak show.

Although it's a story about a young woman who sees spirits, the book is really about the nurse who, after studying medicine and working at the hospital for 20 years, discovers that she is no more respected by the doctors than are the inmates. It's really a journey of discovery by the 50-year-old nurse. All in all, the inmates are the appealing characters and the doctors are horrific.

It's okay to be different now. It's okay. It really is. Go for it.

An intriguing book. Thanks to Netgalley, the author Victoria Mas, and The Overlook Press for allowing me to read and review this ebook.

The Mad Women’s Ball is a dark, captivating and utterly original work of gothic-tinged historical fiction set against the backdrop of nineteenth-century Paris. Every year, in mid-Lent, a very strange Bal des Folles is held. For an evening, the Tout-Paris slips on to waltz and polka tunes in the company of women disguised as columbines, gypsies, zouaves and other musketeers. Spread over two rooms - on one side the idiots and the epileptics; on the other hand the hysterics, the mad and the maniacs - this ball is actually one of the last experiments of Charcot, eager to make sick of the Salpêtrière women like the others. Among them, Eugenie, Louise and Geneviève, of which Victoria Mas retraces the course in this absorbing novel and strikes bare the female condition in the nineteenth century.

This is a beguiling, wholly unique and beautifully written piece of historical fact meets fiction and a powerful, cinematic and engaging thriller about the injustice that these women faced during that time. Set against the backdrop of major societal and historical development and change all of which are vividly portrayed and you find yourself rooting for the strong protagonists whose only wish is to be set free. The ball is fascinating but also a strange and quite perverse event meant to entertain Parisian socialites. With lustrous, rich description, a reflection of 19th century aesthetic, the tone of the story weaves together thriller, history and mystery in a truly refreshing, atmospheric and riveting manner. Highly recommended.