Book Review: The Madwomen of Paris by Jennifer Cody Epstein

Rating: 4.5⭐

Set in the Salpêtrière, a women’s asylum in 1800s France, author Jennifer Cody Epstein combines fact and fiction to give us a heartbreaking story that revolves around the plight of women being treated for “hysteria” under the care of renowned neurologist Dr. Jean-Martine Charcot and his team of interns and in the expansive facility, a "small, mad city" that housed “three thousand women in various states of mental distress; two hundred children in its reformatory schools; six hundred doctors, surgeons, internes and externes, nurses, and various other assistants; and over a dozen on-site workshops making everything from copper tools to iron horseshoes to wooden clogs for its patients.”

Dr. Charcot’s research into the treatment of hysteria is highly publicized, complete with his famous Friday lecture series wherein he presents the symptoms he treats with hypnosis in a live demonstration with his subject (patient) which is attended by the public. The author references the famous group tableau portrait of 1887 A Clinical Lesson at the Salpêtrière (Une leçon clinique à la Salpêtrière) which depicts a clinical demonstration of the symptoms of hysteria, attended by Dr. Charcot’s students.

The narrative is presented from the perspective of nineteen-year-old Laure Bissonet, a former patient who is presently employed as an attendant. The daughter of a physician, she was institutionalized after an emotional breakdown following the death of her father. Laure hopes to eventually leave the asylum and search for her younger sister with whom she separated when she entered Salpêtrière. The narrative follows Laure as she meets and attends to a newly arrived patient, seventeen-year-old Josephine Garreau, who is institutionalized in with visible injuries, following a failed suicide attempt. She suffers from amnesia, unable to recount the events that led to her attempted suicide. Josephine, apparently highly susceptible to hypnosis soon becomes the star of Dr. Charcot’s Friday lectures and slowly begins to regain her memories which she shares with Laure. Laure and Josephine become close and Laure hopes to leave with Josephine but as the day to their planned escape draws close, Laure notices a behavioral shift in Josephine. Are Dr. Charcot’s methods healing Josephine or intensifying her emotional distress? Is she truly unwell or is she putting on an act and if so, to what end?

The Madwomen of Paris by Jennifer Cody Epstein is a meticulously researched, dark and disturbing yet compelling work of historical fiction that paints a bleak but realistic picture of the workings of the most famous asylum for women in Europe in an era where women had no rights or agency. From what Laure observes and we can make out that many of those termed "hysterics’” were suffering from emotional distress brought on by abuse and traumatic events in their lives or were simply institutionalized by their families for defying societal norms and control.

“The men always get away with it. It was a central tenet of our time, unwritten and undiscussed, but as incontrovertible as any upheld in an actual court of law.”

I truly appreciated the Author’s Note that details the historical context of the story as well as the people and events that inspired the same. The author also sheds light on how the study of mental illness and how the treatment of what was once termed “hysteria” has evolved over time.

This is not an easy read. The author paints a vivid picture of the living conditions (worse for those in the “Lunacy” section of the asylum), the utter disregard for the women under Dr. Charcot’s care, the humiliation of public display and the methods employed in treatment, with other instances of abuse alluded to (thankfully we don’t have to read about such in detail). The characterizations are superb and the narrative flows at an even pace, making for a compelling read.

Many thanks to Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine and NetGalley for the much-appreciated digital review copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.