Wildthorn by Jane Eagland

Paperback, 359 pages

Published February 6th 2009 by Macmillan Children's Books

ISBN

0330458167 (ISBN13: 9780330458160)

edition language

English

original title

Wildthorn

literary awards

Lambda Literary Foundation Award for LGBT Children's/Young Adult (2011), Rainbow List Bibliography for Young Adult/ Crossover Fiction (2011)

 

Seventeen-year-old Louisa Cosgrove longs to break free from her respectable life as a Victorian doctor's daughter. But her dreams become a nightmare when Louisa is sent to Wildthorn Hall: labeled a lunatic, deprived of her liberty and even her real name. As she unravels the betrayals that led to her incarceration, she realizes there are many kinds of prison. She must be honest with herself - and others - in order to be set free. And love may be the key..

 

My Review

 What a wonderful novel. the story line is something so unique and creative and yet you know in your heart and mind that this sort of thing did happen back in the victorian times. What I love about the novel is the fact that it makes you appreciate what you have in today's society, because the story that it presents is one of trouble, toils and betrayal. It shows how the world was not equal and that our elders had the upper hand on what happened to us. So many people were misjudged regarding their mental well being, and you have to wonder, how many of them actually deserved the judgement that they were given. What I liked about the story though was its originality and its way of making the images and characters spring to life within the readers mind. I was able to envision this dainty young victorian girl forced into her corset dress surrounded by books of medicine. It just really sprang to life as I was reading it which meant I found it to be a highly enjoyable read due to the fact that I could connect to it. 

I very much enjoyed the fact that you got to learn about her past as you read about her present life because it allowed you to build up thise unknowing sense of what occured in order for her to get there. Was it because she wanted to be a doctor and enjoyed studying so much or was it because she showed love for a female rather than a male which was what was respected in those days. In so many ways the book makes you question how equality has changed today, and yet it points out the amount of discrimination that we still have yet. When reading it though, you do want to tell yourself that the asylums people were sent to are not really as they seem, however in your heart you know they were. you only have to read the reports to know how cold and harsh they were to their patients. The emotions were well displayed and written in this book. It was almost as if I was reading someones auto biography of their life, of what they had been through and gone through and I suppose in a way that made it a whole lot easier to connect and relate to.

However, it was the relationship between eliza and louisa that just seemed to flourish throughout that made you hopeful for the happy ending. I am a bit dubious when it comes to the whole louisa escaping and not being sent back. surely if family had sent her there in the first she would have been taken back? yet you can also see the sense of where they came from. the men did have the upper hand back in those days and they were able to convince people about a lot of things I am sure. the book is a thought provoking one which challenges you to get involved with the pages, to read them and become them. It just inviites the reader into a whole new life promising excitement and emotion. a wonderful and pleasent read that I would be proud to own and place upon my shelves.

 

My rating