Blue Asylum [Hardcover]

Kathy Hepinstall (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 10, 2012

Amid the mayhem of the Civil War, Virginia plantation wife Iris Dunleavy is put on trial and convicted of madness. It is the only reasonable explanation the court can see for her willful behavior, so she is sent away to Sanibel Asylum to be restored to a good, compliant woman. Iris knows, though, that her husband is the true criminal; she is no lunatic, only guilty of disagreeing with him on notions of justice, cruelty, and property.

On this remote Florida island, cut off by swamps and seas and military blockades, Iris meets a wonderful collection of residents--some seemingly sane, some wrongly convinced they are crazy, some charmingly odd, some dangerously unstable. Which of these is Ambrose Weller, the war-haunted Confederate soldier whose memories terrorize him into wild fits that can only be calmed by the color blue, but whose gentleness and dark eyes beckon to Iris.

The institution calls itself modern, but Iris is skeptical of its methods, particularly the dreaded "water treatment." She must escape, but she has found new hope and love with Ambrose. Can she take him with her? If they make it out, will the war have left anything for them to make a life from, back home?

Blue Asylum is a vibrant, beautifully-imagined, absorbing story of the lines we all cross between sanity and madness. It is also the tale of a spirited woman, a wounded soldier, their impossible love, and the undeniable call of freedom. http://www.hmhbooks.com/blueasylum/

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A Letter to Readers from Kathy Hepinstall

Dear Amazon Readers,
They say madness is a double-edged sword. It can cause you great misunderstanding, institutionalization, and even physical torture. But it’s so handy when you fall in love. In Blue Asylum, Iris Dunleavy and Ambrose Weller find themselves suffering from each of these effects of madness--misunderstood, sequestered in a sanitarium, and subjected to cruel treatment. And yet they still manage to fall, madly, in love.

Speaking of love, I have to say I love these characters. I want the best for them. I hesitate to cause them pain, even for their own good. I've never had children, but they are like children to me. They are real. They exist despite the fact that they never did, and when I hear their names I feel a chord of recognition.

Iris. I think of a headstrong woman who believes she can control the fate of those she loves.

Ambrose. The name literally feels blue--ironically, the color of the uniform he fought against.

Wendell, the boy who decides to help Ambrose and Iris escape the insane asylum, gives me a worried smile.

And Dr. Cowell's earnest and desolate pomposity makes me want to surrender to him what he can never have, or reach inside him and remove that craving impulse to matter somehow.

I researched and started writing Blue Asylum on the island of Sanibel. It's a strange and largely wild place, pristine and ominous, flat blue-green water and breezes and crocodiles. In 1864, the year Blue Asylum takes place, it must have been even more beautiful, dangerous, unpredictable. It's a good place for a story, I think, and a good place for my characters to grow up.

I hope you enjoy the madness and passion of my characters. Maybe you'll even see--a little, at least--of it in yourself.

Many regards,
Kathy Hepinstall

Review

"What sets Blue Asylum apart is Hepinstall’s luscious prose and the tension within each character that keeps the reader maddeningly off balance...Hepinstall makes inspired use of the Civil War as a means to explore notions of freedom, courage and, especially, opposing principals that both prevent and create change. Battle scenes, glimpsed briefly in Ambrose’s excruciating flashbacks, deliver knockout punches of quiet horror all the more affecting for their subtlety."
—Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"A fine novel embroidered with rich imagery."
—Kirkus Reviews

"Features excellent pacing and strong character development that animate not only the inmates at the Sanibel Asylum but the characters from the preasylum lives of Iris and Ambrose. A first-rate choice for fans of intelligent historical romances."
—Library Journal, starred review

"Hepinstall exquisitely illustrates the fate of societal outsiders in this richly compelling Civil War–era tale of the former mistress of a Virginia plantation, now confined to a beautiful island asylum, and her burgeoning love for a traumatized Confederate soldier... Deftly interweaving past and present, Hepinstall sets the struggles of her characters against the rigidity of a traditional Southern society and the brutality of war in an absorbing story that explores both the rewards and perils of love, pride, and sanity itself."
—Publishers Weekly

"A deep sense of the natural world, often-lyrical prose, and some touches of southern Gothic help carry along this tale of obsession and redemption."
—Booklist

"With Blue Asylum, Kathy Hepinstall presents the reader with the rare and delicious quandary of whether to race through and find out what happens to her characters or to linger over her vivid, beautifully crafted sentences. For me, the only resolution was to read it twice."
—Hillary Jordan, author of Mudbound and When She Woke

"Blue Asylum is a gripping story of love and madness in the midst of the Civil War—I couldn’t put it down!"
—Kathleen Grissom, author of The Kitchen House

"Blue Asylum casts a spell that keeps the reader turning pages as if in a trance. The language is lyrical but the plot is taut and compelling. The horrors of the Civil War are made real and specific in the story of the wounded soldier and the persecuted wife who find love and hope in the unlikely setting of a supposedly enlightened insane asylum on an isolated island in the Deep South. Kathy Hepinstall is a master storyteller in full command of her craft."
—Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey, author of A Woman of Independent Means

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (April 10, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0547712073
• ISBN-13: 978-0547712079
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (97 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #325,719 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent and Clever April 10, 2012

By Stephanie Karfelt

Format:Hardcover

Blue Asylum wasn't what I expected, and I really enjoy that in a book. Iris Dunleavy is sent to an asylum for daring to have her own opinion during the Civil War, but she never becomes a helpless victim. She speaks her mind calmly and intelligently, even when nobody listens. The entire story is fresh, from the upscale Sanibel Asylum located on a tropical island, off the coast of Florida, to the individual patients whose issues are manifested in diverse and unexpected ways. What I'd expected was the stereotypical madhouse saga, and it was absolutely not that. Instead of the usual cast of cruel staff, there was a misguided doctor employing what he considered a state-of-the-art cure. I adored that the cast of characters, both inside and outside the asylum all harbored their own issues. The characters all felt very real, and I read the entire novel at once, sitting in the bed with a flashlight, because I had to know what became of everyone. This is the first Kathy Hepinstall book I've read, and I'm looking forward to reading more of her work.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Asylum Read April 10, 2012

By Celine

Format:Hardcover

If a book has an asylum in it, I'm always game. But this one was a surprise; Blue Asylum has so much to offer.

In the time of the war between the South and the North, wife of a Southern slaveholder is sent to an asylum. Here she meets a cast of characters including the self-proclaimed crazy son of the psychiatrist, a woman that swallows small objects and a soldier that uses the colour blue to keep his war traumas at bay. But Iris doesn't believe she's mad; and there is only one thing on her mind. Freedom.

Ms Hepinstall writes with a dreamlike quality that fits wonderfully in this story. The way she describes the island where the asylum is located, to the sea and the creatures. It was beautiful. If it weren't for the asylum, I would have loved to live there.

Now as for the asylum itself, it was like a fresh breeze into the genre. Usually asylums are bleak places, with small empty rooms with only a metal bed. A place where behind a pretty façade there are horrible things going on. But none such thing in Sanibel Asylum. The place is light and breezy. The rooms have comfortable beds and paintings on the wall. The patients can have walks on the beach and a weekly swim in the sea. They dine together with the psychiatrists family and eat the same fine food. I loved the contrast between the beautiful asylum which is a prison, and the freedom outside where there is a war going on.

The story is about so much more than a woman fighting for her freedom. There are so many underlying themes such as faith, war, slavery, family, destiny and of course love. What made Blue Asylum a five-star read for me is that even though it contains so many heavy themes, it never gets preachy. There is no narrator telling you "This is the way it should be". There are only the characters, fighting their own situation, and discovering themselves while doing it.

Blue Asylum will keep you on the edge of your seat. There is a lot of mystery going on, and the secrets won't be revealed until the very end.

A truly amazing book.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Some flaws, but a good solid 4 February 28, 2012

By D. Williams VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

The time and place:

The Civil War South, specifically, the Sanibel Asylum on an island off of Florida

The major characters:

Iris Dunleavy, the wife of a Virginia plantation owner, found insane by a local judge and sent to the asylum because of her defiance toward her husband. It is hoped that she can learn to be a "good" (read: submissive) wife once again.

Dr. Cowell, the superintendent of the asylum, who believes his techniques to be the most modern available but still resorts to the dreaded "Water Treatment."

Dr. Cowell's clinging, self-absorbed wife, accustomed to the standard of living she had before the war broke out and before the move to the island.

The Cowells' twelve-year-old son Wendell, who sometimes seems wise beyond his years and at other times seems "all boy" - and wonders whether or not he is sane.

Ambrose Weller, another patient in the asylum, who was a Confederate soldier and now must overcome a horrible incident in his past. He is calmed only by thoughts of the color blue, and he and Iris fall in love.

The questions posed in this novel:

Which of the characters are insane? Which are perhaps not exactly insane, but mentally wounded? Which are sane? Which are simply pompous? Did Iris Dunleavy commit a crime, or is her husband the criminal?

My thoughts about this novel:

This is a short, fast-paced novel, with a clear style and strong characterizations. Readers can easily see the characters in their minds, and the characters' actions seem plausible. I wanted to keep reading to see what the final outcome would be.

The main complaint I have about this novel is that the ending seemed rushed and, for that reason, not as satisfying as it could have been. Also, as I have said in my reviews of other historical fiction, I like to see some proof that the author has done his/her homework - a list of references in back matter, at least. One particular trouble spot here was Ambrose's dosage of laudanum - spoonfuls, when other similar novels mention the dosage as drops mixed in liquids. One way or another, someone needs to do some fact-checking.

Overall, though, this is a very well-written novel. I will look for more by Hepinstall.