Women of Magdalene

I confess that when I pick up an unknown novel to read, I am quick to decide against it if I am not immediately drawn by the author's prose and his or her ability to hook me with the story. It's such a pleasure to discover a writer who has both style and a beautiful way of telling her story. Rpsemary Poole-Carter's language is so right for the period and place she describes. It is easy to imagine that we are hearing the story in the voice of a man who lived and died more than a century and a half ago. There's nothing exaggerated or mannered about the prose or the dialogue. It all rings true. And the story unfolds in its stately, measured way, without a false step. This is more To Kill a Mockingbird than Gone With the Wind, a little story about very big issues, told with sensitivity and grace.

Dr. Robert Mallory, a young physician in the post-Civil War South, is lucky to find a position in the Magdalene Ladies' Lunatic Asylum. A good hearted and tender young man, he is suffering from grief and guilt over his beloved sister's tragedy and what he has seen in his surgical work among the wounded soldiers. Reluctantly dismissing the drowning of one of the ladies as a likely accident, he proceeds to pour out his caring and skill to the other asylum women who, he eventually understands, have been conveniently disposed of by their families for various reasons. After Dr. Mallory realizes that the asylum's charismatic director Dr. Kingston has no interest in curing his patients, the dedicated young doctor gradually unfolds horrors that he has little ability to remedy. When he finally is assigned to escort the gentle silent patient Effie home to her family, she begins to speak to him and tells him the first of stories which will make it imperative that he return to discover the real truth of the ladies and their well-regarded director. Beautifully written with a tender love story. I hope someone makes a film of this book! It deserves it! The languid defeated South, the hidden angers and brutalities and a group of innocent women locked away would make a compelling movie. Stephanie Cowell (author of MARRYING MOZART from Penguin Books)

Poole-Carter thinks up and writes wonderful plays so you just know her new novel will be atmospheric and spellbinding. And it is. I'd say move over just a bit Harper Lee ... and I know you're not a historical novelist ... but the immediately engaging tone, writing quality, and story of Women of Magdalene has the same mesmerizing quality. I'll fess up ... I worked in a psychiatric hospital when I was in high school ... over one hundred years after the war between the states ... but I still understand the personal, human, and professional dilemmas the environment produces. Rosemary Poole-Carter treats it with total understanding and the qualities of a bona fide writer ... and human. Todd Sentell, author of Toonamint of Champions

Poole-Carter's tale of a post-Civil asylum for insane women (The Magdalene Ladies Lunatic Asylum) is taught and skillful. The story follows Dr. Mallory, a surgeon fresh from the battlefield, as he makes his way in a new position at the asylum. He soon discovers something is tragically amiss in care of the women and the caregivers themselves. Poole-Carter's descriptions remind me of Charles Fraziers' COLD MOUNTAIN. A great read on cold fall day.