Spoilers Ahead: 

So this book was actually not what I was expecting at all. That’s not necessarily a good or a bad thing, I was just a little confused by it all. 

We follow Georgina Ferrers as she wakes up in an Asylum, wondering how she got there. Turns out she suffered a seizure, and was actually brought in as a voluntary patient. However, she was in clothes that she would never wear, and without her mother’s brooch and her writing case, which she would never leave without. She is suspicious, and wants to leave, but Mr Straker won’t let her because he thinks she is not of sound mind. 

Mr Straker tells her that her name isn’t actually Georgina Ferrers. He said that when she came in, she was Lucy Ashton. She has no memories, no recollection of any events, and when a certain Frederick Moordent comes in, they are both infatuated with each other. But, when Georgina acts out, she is no longer seen as a voluntary patient, and is kept under lock and key, with them claiming her officially insane. 

She has moments where her memories come back to her, and she tries to remember what actually happened to her. One time she tries to escape, but they bring her back in, and she finds out it is just a ploy. When she turns up at her house, she is shocked to see someone living there, posing as Georgina Ferrers (whom she is supposed to be). Unfortunately, everyone believes the imposter, and it looks like the real Georgina Ferrers is going to be imprisoned for a very long time. 

When Georgina discovers her writing case, and her journal, she reads over her memories. It turns out, she put an AD in the newspaper for if anyone knew about Rosina Wentworth, and someone called Lucia came forward. Turns out, after much digging, they were cousins, but they had a little soft spot for each other - or so we thought. Because Georgina’s father was actually one of the Moordent men, she would actually inherit the Asylum, because Frederick owned it, and it should have already been passed down to her. Lucia knew of this, and was just trying to take that and the inheritance that Georgina was owed, so she posed as her. Unfortunately, they looked and sounded alike, so not many people could tell them apart. Double unfortunately, Georgina went to the Asylum to figure out the truth by finding one of the Moordent men, and actually got put in there herself by Dr Straker. When she tries to escape, after Frederick convinces Dr Straker to bring Lucia in (the real Lucia, performing as Georgina Ferrers) Dr Straker finds Lucia and he kills her in his contraption. It was him all along! He kills himself, and then the Asylum is set on fire, and although Lucia survives, Georgina doesn’t forgive her. She doesn’t love either one of them, and she moves on with her life, trying to figure out how she can get her money from her inheritance back. 

I can’t lie, I was looking for a book with more of a horror aspect to it, but it was more psychological thriller, I’d say. I was looking forward to being scared. If I thought about it too much, I would probably say that the horror is actually the thought of being trapped in an Asylum with no one to believe that you are the real you, which is quite cool. However, I think the idea of using an inheritance as a way of deceiving someone is so overused, and I recently read a book like it recently, so that put me off a little bit. 

I thought the plot and the concept was very cool, and I like the way it was written, although it was sometimes very confusing, and the stories didn’t match up at some points. I can’t lie (again) but there were a lot of things that didn’t make sense to me. The ghostly apparitions and noises that Frederick was seeing, what were they? Because with that, it made me think that I was going to be reading a horror, but, unless there’s some deeper meaning, it really adds nothing to the plot, and it’s just a distraction. If it had contributed to the story, that would have been an excellent addition to the plot, but it was useless if it didn’t connect to the rest of the story. 

The sapphic part of the story was quite sweet, except when you think about the fact that it’s fake, and they’re cousins; that sort of ruins the mood a bit. 

The characters themselves were just merely meh, I had no sort of attachment to them. I think the realest thing about this book was actually the incestual relationship between Georgina and Lucia, and that wasn’t even real. It’s a shame. Anyway, I would recommend listening to this, especially if you’re into psychological thrillers and the idea of being trapped.