Grace Hitchcock: The Gray Chamber

By Kelly Bridgewater

Will Edyth prove her sanity before it is too late?

On Blackwell Island, New York, a hospital was built to keep its patients from ever leaving.

With her late father’s fortune under her uncle’s care until her twenty-fifth birthday in the year 1887, Edyth Foster does not feel pressured to marry or to bow to society’s demands. She freely indulges in eccentric hobbies like fencing and riding her velocipede in her cycling costume about the city for all to see. Finding a loophole in the will, though, her uncle whisks Edyth off to the women’s lunatic asylum just weeks before her birthday. Do any of Edyth’s friends care that she disappeared?

At the asylum she meets another inmate, who upon discovering Edyth’s plight, confesses that she is Nellie Bly, an undercover journalist for The World. Will either woman find a way to leave the terrifying island and reclaim her true self?

From Amazon

My Thoughts:

The Gray Chamber by Grace Hitchcock is a delightful glance into the world of insane asylums during the 1900's. I have always known that asylums were some pretty creepy places during the 1900's, but Hitchcock does a fabulous job at showing the horrors that occurred to normal woman who were sent there by the men who claimed to love them. No wonder some of the women actually went crazy. Horrible things and abuse happened to them while they were imprisoned in these places. I couldn't imagine the horror, uncleanliness, and the abuse some of these sane women had to put up with. I really enjoyed how Hitchcock made Edyth a fighter who struggled for her freedom and was willing to help others escape too. I really liked the element of including Nellie Bly in the story too. I knew some of what she did, but this made it a little more realistic. Overall, The Gray Chamber was a quick and delightful read. I enjoyed this book and hope for more mysteries from Hitchcock. If you enjoyed this story, then pick up Elizabeth Blyer Younts novel The Bright Unknown.

I received a complimentary copy of The Gray Chamber by Grace Hitchcock from Barbour Publishing, but the opinions stated are all my own.

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars