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  • The Mad Women’s Ball

  • Written by: Victoria Mas
  • Narrated by: Kristin Atherton
  • Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (7 ratings)

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The Mad Women’s Ball

Written by: Victoria Mas
Narrated by: Kristin Atherton
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Publisher's Summary

The Salpêtrière Asylum: Paris, 1885. Dr. Charcot holds all of Paris in thrall with his displays of hypnotism on women who have been deemed mad and cast out from society. But the truth is much more complicated - these women are often simply inconvenient, unwanted wives, those who have lost something precious, wayward daughters, or girls born from adulterous relationships.

For Parisian society, the highlight of the year is the Lenten ball - the Madwomen’s Ball - when the great and good come to gawk at the patients of the Salpêtrière dressed up in their finery for one night only. For the women themselves, it is a rare moment of hope.

Geneviève is a senior nurse. After the childhood death of her sister, Blandine, she shunned religion and placed her faith in both the celebrated psychiatrist Dr. Charcot and science. But everything begins to change when she meets Eugénie, the 19-year-old daughter of a bourgeois family that has locked her away in the asylum.

Because Eugénie has a secret: She sees spirits. Inspired by the scandalous, banned work that all of Paris is talking about, The Book of Spirits, Eugénie is determined to escape from the asylum - and the bonds of her gender - and seek out those who will believe in her. And for that she will need Geneviève's help.

©2021 Victoria Mas. Original French edition © 2019 Éditions Albin Michel, Paris. English translation © Frank Wynne. Published in 2021 by the Overlook Press, an imprint of ABRAMS, New York. All rights reserved. (P)2021 Penguin Audio
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