It's 1921, fifteen years after the disappearance of a child, and three women's lives intertwine as a web of lies unravels in a quest to solve the mystery of what happened to the boy. Elizabeth has been in an asylum since the disappearance of her son. Her daughter Meg is determined to find out why and what happened to her brother. And Abby, a Chippewa Indian fortune teller, has insight into everything that goes on in their small burgh. During an era of bootlegging, speakeasies, and changing times, their fates are woven together as their lives are forever transformed.
How much do we really know about the lives of our parents and the secrets lodged in their past? Judy Bolton-Fasman's fascinating saga, "Asylum: A Memoir of Family Secrets," recounts the search for answers to the mysteries embedded in the lives of her Cuban-born mother, Matilde Alboukrek Bolton and her elusive, Yale-educated father, K. Harold Bolton. In the prefatory chapter, "Burn This," Judy receives a thick letter from her father and conjectures that the contents will reveal the long hidden explanations, confessions, and secrets that will unlock her father's cryptic past. Just as she is about to open the portal to her father's "transtiendas," his dark hidden secrets, Harold Bolton phones Judy and instructs her to burn the still unopened letter. With the flick of a match, Judy ignites her father's unread documents, effectively destroying the answers to long held questions that surround her parents' improbable marriage and their even more secretive lives. Judy Bolton, girl detective, embarks on the life-long exploration of her bifurcated ancestry; Judy inherits a Sephardic, Spanish/Ladino-speaking culture from her mother and an Ashkenazi, English-only, old-fashioned American patriotism from her father. Amid the Bolton household's cultural, political, and psychological confusion, Judy is mystified by her father's impenetrable silence; and, similarly confounded by her mother's fabrications, not the least of which involve rumors of a dowry pay-off and multiple wedding ceremonies for the oddly mismatched 40-year-old groom and the 24-year-old bride. Contacting former associates, relatives, and friends; accessing records through the Freedom of Information Act; traveling to Cuba to search for clues, and even reciting the Mourner's Kaddish for a year to gain spiritual insight into her father; these decades-long endeavors do not always yield the answers Judy wanted and sometimes the answers themselves lead her to ask new questions. Among Asylum's most astonishing, unsolved mysteries is Ana Hernandez's appearance at the family home on Asylum Avenue in West Hartford, Connecticut. Ana is an exchange student from Guatemala whom Judy comes to presume to be her paternal half-sister. In seeking information about Ana, Judy's investigations prove to be much like her entire enterprise--both enticing and frustrating. Was Ana just a misconstrued memory, or is she a still living piece of the puzzle that Judy has spent her adult life trying to solve? Readers will relish every step and stage of Judy's investigations and will begin toshare in her obsession to obtain answers to the mysteries that have haunted her life.The suspense, the clairvoyant prophecies, the discoveries, the new leads, the dead-ends, the paths not taken--all capture our attention in this absorbing and fascinating memoir.
Madeleine Roux's New York Times bestselling Asylum is a thrilling and creepy photo-illustrated novel that Publishers Weekly called "a strong YA debut that reveals the enduring impact of buried trauma on a place." For sixteen-year-old Dan Crawford, the New Hampshire College Prep program is the chance of a lifetime. Except that when Dan arrives, he finds that the usual summer housing has been closed, forcing students to stay in the crumbling Brookline Dorm. The dorm was formerly a sanatorium, more commonly known as an asylum. And not just any asylum—a last resort for the criminally insane. As Dan and his new friends Abby and Jordan start exploring Brookline's twisty halls and hidden basement, they uncover disturbing secrets about what really went on at Brookline . . . secrets that link Dan and his friends to the asylum's dark past. Because Brookline was no ordinary asylum, and there are some secrets that refuse to stay buried. Featuring found photographs from real asylums and filled with chilling mystery and page-turning suspense, Asylum is a horror story that treads the line between genius and insanity, perfect for fans of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Don't miss any of the books in the Asylum series, or Madeleine Roux's shivery fantasy series, House of Furies!
FROM THE WINNER OF THE CWA INTERNATIONAL DAGGER 2010 FOR THE DARKEST ROOM 'A compelling and scary psychological thriller' - Sunday Mirror Who amongst us can really say theyâe(tm)re sane? Jan has just started working at the Dell nursery. But this is no normal nursery. Itâe(tm)s linked to a high-security asylum by a dimly-lit underground tunnel, which is used for the children to visit their parents. Who are some of the most dangerous psychopaths in the country. And Jan has complicated reasons for being here. Thereâe(tm)s something heâe(tm)s not telling people about his past. And thereâe(tm)s someone in the asylum who he really wants to see . . .
Beth Luxenberg was an only child. Or so everyone thought. Six months after Beth's death, her secret emerged. It had a name: Annie. Praise for Annie's Ghosts "Annie's Ghosts is one of the most remarkable books I have ever read . . . From mental institutions to the Holocaust, from mothers and fathers to children and childhood, with its mysteries, sadness, and joy--this book is one emotional ride."--Bob Woodward, author of The War Within and State of Denial "Steve Luxenberg sleuths his family's hidden history with the skills of an investigative reporter, the instincts of a mystery writer, and the sympathy of a loving son. His rediscovery of one lost woman illuminates the shocking fate of thousands of Americans who disappeared just a generation ago."--Tony Horwitz, author of A Voyage Long and Strange and Confederates in the Attic "I started reading within minutes of picking up this book, and was instantly mesmerized. It's a riveting detective story, a moving family saga, an enlightening if heartbreaking chapter in the history of America's treatment of people born with what we now call special needs." -- Deborah Tannen, author of You Just Don't Understand and You're Wearing That "This is a memoir that pushes the journalistic envelope . . . Luxenberg has written a fascinating personal story as well as a report on our communal response to the mentally ill." -- Helen Epstein, author of Where She Came From and Children of the Holocaust "A wise, affecting new memoir of family secrets and posthumous absolution." -- The Washington Post "Annie's Ghosts will resonate for many, whether the chords have to do with family secrets, the Depression, memories of a thriving Detroit, the Holocaust's horrors, or the immigrant experience." -- The Detroit Free Press
Perfect for fans of The Familiars and The Glass House, this is the intoxicating story of one woman's fight for freedom in Victorian England. ????? 'Outstanding gothic psychological thriller!' ????? 'Fantastic character and fantastic story. Buy this book' ????? 'Beautifully written and incredibly addictive' ????? 'I can’t stop thinking about it' ___________ WHO IS MAUD LOVELL AND WHERE HAS SHE COME FROM? Maud has been at Angelton Lunatic Asylum for 5 years. She has no memory of her past or how she came to be here. They say she is violent and unstable, hysterical and untrustworthy. But when she's hypnotised, the memories come flooding back. And now it's time for revenge. Welcome to Angelton Lunatic Asylum. Once you're in, it's murder getting out . . . ___________ PRAISE FOR THE ASYLUM: 'Haunting and mesmerising' – Essie Fox, author of The Last Days of Leda Grey 'Vivid, disturbing and visceral, The Asylum is this year's must-read!' – Ruby Speechley, author of A Mother Like You 'This twisty rollercoaster story made me desperate for Maud's salvation and yearn for her revenge. Utterly compelling' – Kerry Fisher, author of The Woman I Was Before 'Evocative, menacing and darkly sinister. A brilliantly executed gothic thriller that will leave you breathless' – Jane Isaac, international bestselling crime fiction author 'A historic novel that seethes with claustrophobia, trauma and thoughts of revenge. What a sophisticated and gripping tale' – Fiona Mitchell, author of The Swap
Here are all three novels in Madeleine Roux's haunting, bestselling Asylum series, perfect for fans of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Asylum: Madeleine Roux's New York Times bestselling Asylum is a thrilling and creepy photo-illustrated novel that Publishers Weekly called "a strong YA debut that reveals the enduring impact of buried trauma on a place." Featuring found photographs from real asylums and filled with chilling mystery and page-turning suspense, Asylum is a horror story that treads the line between genius and insanity. Sanctum: In this haunting, fast-paced sequel to the New York Times bestselling photo-illustrated novel Asylum, three teens must unlock some long-buried secrets from the past before the past comes back to get them first. Featuring found photographs, many from real vintage carnivals, Sanctum is a mind-bending reading experience that blurs the lines between past and present, genius and insanity. Catacomb: The heart-stopping third book in the series follows Dan, Abby, and Jordan as they take a senior year road trip to one of America's most haunted cities, uncovering dangerous secrets from their past along the way, and realizing that sometimes the past is better off buried. . . Don't miss Madeleine Roux's all-new gothic horror novel, House of Furies.
They arrive alive. They leave dead.But first, they give me their confessions.My name is Jack Steen. That name shouldn't mean anything to you. Unless you're about to die. And then I'm your bloody guardian angel. I work as a night nurse in the Asylum for the criminally insane. My name is the only real name you'll find in this book. I won't tell you which hospital I work at. I won't tell you the names of those dying.But I won't lie to you.You'll read exactly what I'm told. If you're smart, if you're deranged enough to read between the lines, you'll know who is telling the story.They could be playing their final game with me by messing with my head. Now, maybe they're messing with yours too.Inside this book are 4 confessions: One has an interesting 'appetite'. One was the Ken to his Barbie, and he would do anything to keep her happy.Another is a Nanny, but not one you want watching your kids.The other is the sweetest soul you'd ever meet but you'll have a hard time reading her confession. WARNING: There is swearing in this book. And some stories might be a trigger for something you have a hard time handling. But, these are the confessions of serial killers, mass murderers and such. NOTE: These once were published as novellas. Now they're in a full length novel. Deal with it.Want to read the next set of Confession books? Sign up for my mailing list - I'm told all the real authors have one, so I figured why not
Robin Constantine's New Jersey romance The Promise of Amazing is a sexy, poignant, funny, and authentic debut novel that will appeal to fans of books by Stephanie Perkins, Sarah Mlynowski, and Jennifer E. Smith. Wren Caswell is average. Ranked in the middle of her class at Sacred Heart, she's not popular, not a social misfit. Wren is the quiet good girl who's always done what she's supposed to—only now, in her junior year, this passive strategy is backfiring. She wants to change but doesn't know how. Grayson Barrett was the king of St. Gabe's: star of the lacrosse team, top of his class, and on the fast track to a brilliant future—until he was expelled for being a "term-paper pimp." Now Gray is in a downward spiral and needs to change but doesn't know how. One fateful night, their paths cross at Wren's family's Arthurian-themed catering hall. What follows is the complicated, awkward, hilarious, and tender tale of two teens shedding their pasts, figuring out who they are—and falling in love.
A True Story: Exposing The Dark Secrets Of The Insane Asylum. I did not know it was hell until that first night!A place of cruel torture, of starvation, of murder, of flagrant injustice, of hatred, of despair, of envy. As Told By Sara Ramsey And Written By Dorothy Ramsey Sara and James, who with all their hungry souls sought the truth and understanding of Gods Words, (as evidenced by her poetry throughout the book), were apprehended on December 18, 1912, judged and committed without a trial or defense for being impoverished street preachers and for living together while not being legally married by the laws of man. They were sent to Patton State Hospital, then known as The Insane Asylum, in San Bernardino County, California. At the time qualifying afflictions included: religious excitement, spiritualism, worry, overwork, love affairs, seduction, alcoholism, drug and tobacco abuse, privation, politics, asthma, desertion by husband, grief, change of life and old age. Whether sent by a judge or family member, the poor unfortunates institutionalized lost every freedom and were deprived of human rights and dignity. The horrors were indelibly impressed in Saras mind. She felt if she told her story it could save others from anguish and torment. This story is important because people are important. How we treat the young, the elderly, weak, vulnerable, mentally ill or physically ill, the poor and homeless is ultimately a true reflection of our society.
