The Mad Women's Ball by Victoria Mas is set in 1885 at the Salpêtrière Asylum in Paris. At the time, women who were homeless, practising prostitution or suffering from a mental illness or neurological disorder found themselves committed to the asylum. A woman who publicly criticised her husband's infidelity could be locked away. If a woman didn't want to marry and was discovered to prefer same sex relationships, she was locked up. A middle aged woman flaunting herself on the arm of a much younger man could be incarcerated for debauchery, while today we'd call her a cougar.
According to the author, women of loose virtue, the dotards and the violent, the hysterics and the simpletons, the fantasists and the fabulists were all admitted. Basically, the Salpêtrière took in women Paris didn't know how to deal with.
A diagnosis of hysteria was easily made and I knew I'd find it frustrating at just how easy it was to pack a woman off to an insane asylum in this period of history.
"The Salpêtrière is a dumping ground for women who disturb the peace. An asylum for those whose sensitivities do not tally with what is expected of them. A prison for women guilty of possessing an opinion." Page 27Primarily a dual narrative, Geneviève is the Matron of the Asylum and a stern mother figure to the nurses. Eugénie is from a well to-do family and finds herself sent to the Salpêtrière Asylum after confiding in her grandmother that she can see ghosts. Geneviève has devoted her life to the Asylum looking after the inmates, but things begin to change for her when Eugénie arrives.
Inspired by history and including the work of Jean-Martin Charcot - renowned for founding modern neurology as we know it - the title was drawn from the fact that a ball was held at the Salpêtrière Asylum every year. Patients were dressed in elaborate gowns and members of high society attended the ball to observe the madwomen from a safe distance and watch them dance. In the novel, the majority of patients look forward to the ball and the opportunity to dress up, be seen by the public and maybe meet a man while the spectacle and behaviour of Paris' elite left a lot to be desired.
A relatively short novel with a satisfying conclusion, I was hoping for a greater focus on Eugénie's ability and would happily follow her into a second novel to see what becomes of her.
Published in 2019 and translated from French, The Mad Women's Ball by Victoria Mas is about agency and the suppression of female autonomy in 19th century France and in 2021 it was also made into a movie in France.
