The Asylum

In this “deliciously spooky” Victorian Gothic, a woman’s past could be the death of her—if she can remember it (The New York Times Book Review).

Confused and disoriented, Georgina Ferrars awakens in a small room in Tregannon House, a remote asylum in England, with no memory of the past few weeks. The doctor, Maynard Straker, tells her that she admitted herself under the name Lucy Ashton, then suffered a seizure. When she insists he has mistaken her for someone else, Dr. Straker sends a telegram to her uncle. The reply is chilling: Georgina Ferrars is safe at home with him in London.

Suddenly her voluntary confinement becomes involuntary. Who is the woman in her uncle’s house? Which woman is the imposter? From a cliffside cottage on the Isle of Wight to the secret passages of the asylum, the perilous quest for answers draws Georgina only deeper into a web of hidden family ties on which her survival, and her sanity, depend.

“Redolent with a sense of foreboding . . . A splendid read!” —Historical Novel Society, Editors’ Choice

“Readers are guaranteed a thoroughly diverting time in Harwood’s not-to-be-trusted hands.” —The Independent

“Harwood, master of creeping Victorian horror, does it again. . . . Twisted in every sense of the word.” —Booklist