Wildthorn

Eagland, Jane. 2009. Wildthorn. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 9780547370170

Plot Summary

When 17-year-old Louisa Cosgrove arrives at Wildthorn she is told that she is ill and her name is Lucy Childs. Lou knows it has to be a mistake, she is not ill and she is not Lucy Childs. Lou quickly realizes that Wildthorn is an insane asylum and that the more she protests her sanity and identity, the more convinced the attendants are that she is right where she belongs. As Louisa tries to solve the puzzle of who put her in an asylum, and why, her situation goes from bad to horrific. It will take the love of an attendant who believes her to set her free.

Critical Analysis (Including Cultural Markers)

Louisa’s first person narration offers a shocking glimpse of the horrors and injustices suffered by women confined in 19th century insane asylums. Many of the women confined in the asylum are there because they were uncooperative or a burden to the men responsible for them. Those who came to Wildthorn sound of mind, and those suffering from treatable depression or anxiety, quickly lose their minds due to neglect, cruel and uncaring attendants, and barbaric treatments.

The clues to why Louisa is in Wildthorn, and who put her there, are revealed through series of flashbacks. Louisa has never shown an inclination for proper womanly pursuits such as homemaking, preferring instead to read and study medicine. She was often at odds with her mother and brother because of this, while her father indulged her interests. When her father died, Louisa’s insistence that she wanted to be a doctor, her natural depression due to grief, and an unlucky combination of “concerned” relatives lead to her incarceration. Louisa’s anger and feelings of impotence are clearly expressed through her narration.

The promised love story is slowly revealed, and may come as a shock to readers. Louisa is afraid that one of the reasons she is in Wildthorn is because her cousin Grace broke a promise. What that promise was is not clear until Louisa finally tells Eliza about the night, shortly before she came to Wildthorn, when she acted on her feelings for Grace, kissed her, and was gently rebuffed. Eliza’s calm acceptance of this revelation is one of the first clues to Eliza’s feelings for Louisa. It is not until Louisa is free of the asylum, seeking refuge with Eliza and her family, that she comes to understand why Eliza was willing to believe and help her.

The joy of first love is quickly complicated by the arrival of Louisa’s cousin Grace and her aunt. Louisa returns to her home to make amends with her mother, who is finally willing to acquiesce to Louisa’s wish to go to medical school. Louisa’s excitement about attending medical school is not shared by Eliza, who has a better understanding of the impossibility of living together openly as lovers and equals. The ending puts aside those worries for later with a clever bit of deception that allows the two women to stay together. After the slow build up and revelation of their desire for one another, the steamy epilogue does not disappoint.

Review Excerpts

Kirkus Reviews: “Like many of her fellow "patients," Louisa's been committed for being a troublesome woman. Luckily, her family doesn't know of those tendencies that would make her utterly irredeemable--her overly fond feelings for her beautiful cousin Grace. Unlike many of the other inmates, who seem to develop mental illness from the cruelty of their surroundings, Louisa is determined to escape, perhaps with the help of a lovely asylum employee, Eliza. Despite a too-pat ending, Louisa and Eliza provide a window into a shameful history of mental health care and women's incarceration that only ended in living memory.”

Publisher’s Weekly: “The author tenderly and expertly builds a romance between Louisa and an attendant, Eliza ("I close my eyes, breathing in her warmth, her familiar almond scent and my thoughts fly like birds"). The surprisingly happy ending--in which Louisa escapes and confronts her accusers--is a welcome relief after all of her angst and despair.”

Connections

Other books with an unexpected Lesbian love affair:

Lo, Malinda. 2009. Ash. New York: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. ISBN 9780316040099

Lo, Malinda. 2011. Huntress. New York: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. ISBN 9780316040075