Weekly Reader: House of Silence by Sarah Barthel; A Fascinating Historical Fiction About Life in A Mental Hospital With Mary Todd Lincloln

Weekly Reader: House of Silence by Sarah Barthel; A Fascinating Historical Fiction About Life in a Mental Hospital With Mary Todd Lincoln

By Julie Sara Porter,

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: It's hard for people who aren't mentally ill to imagine what life is like for those who are. They probably can't picture a life where emotions are so largely felt that the person is held captive by their sadness or their anger. They can't imagine a world in which a person is ruled by obsessions, paranoid thoughts, or elaborate delusions and the mind will do anything to protect those delusions.

 Above all someone who isn't mentally ill can't imagine wanting to have that illness. They can't imagine that someone's so-called normal life is so awful that they have to retreat into mental illness to escape. This circumstance is faced by Isabelle Larkin, the troubled protagonist of  Sarah Barthel's poignant and dark book, House of Silence.

Isabelle is a socialite in late 19th century Illinois who is looking forward to her upcoming wedding to Gregory Gallagher, a handsome, charming, social climbing businessman. There are hints that Isabelle is something of a rebel, by having a fondness for reading books about independent women like Jane Eyre and encouraging her best friend to marry the man she loves even though he is considered unsuitable. But her rebellious nature is subdued and she looks forward to her wedding to Gregory even though she doesn't know very much about him and can't truly say whether she loves him.

Isabelle’s life changes instantly when she witnesses her future fiance commit a violent crime. She goes from princess to pariah when she accuses Gregory of the crime.

He not only denies it but is so skillful in charm and deception, that he gets everyone to believe him, including Isabelle's snobbish mother.

Isabelle's doctor thinks that she was attacked by someone else and Gregory rescued her. Isabelle's mother won't allow the truth of Gregory's crime interfere with Isabelle's chance for an advantageous marriage.

When her mother and Gregory wish to proceed with the wedding despite Isabelle's protests, Isabelle realizes that the only way out is to feign insanity. She refuses to speak, so her mother has her declared mentally ill and has her institutionalized in Bellevue Sanitarium for Women.

Isabelle's time in Bellevue is the most interesting part of the book. She is monitored by various medical staff and doctors, one of whom she becomes attracted to considering him a better more understanding alternative to Gregory's manipulations and violent temper.

Isabelle also gets to know the other female patients such as Marilla who suffers from eating disorders and who runs back to her husband every chance she gets.

The Bellevue milieu comes alive as a place that chokes the lively vibrant women inside. While none of the employees are cruel and are genuinely trying to help them, these women are treated as outcasts and freaks by family members who would rather put them away than help them.

Besides Isabelle, the other stand-out of Bellevue's patients is a very familiar name: Mary Todd Lincoln. As many history buffs know, the former First Lady had various mental health disorders such as depression and bipolar throughout her life. Her condition worsened after the death of her young son, Willie in the White House and she was frequently institutionalized after her husband's assassination.

Mary Todd Lincoln is written as a woman with severe emotional distress but is also seen as a woman who can function, despite the opinion from others particularly her son, Robert who wants to keep her institutionalized.

Isabelle and Mary’s friendship is moving as they both fill a void in each other's life: Isabelle finds an understanding mother-figure who won't betray her to a violent fiancée.Mary finds a daughter that she never had who supports her rather than putting her away and refusing to deal with her.

Their friendship is beautifully written and that's why one passage where Isabelle betrays Mary by feigning insanity in front of Robert with only minor repercussions later is hollow and out-of-character from how they are written throughout the rest of the book.

While Barthel develops Mary well, she wisely keeps her as a supporting character, something Barthel acknowledged in her Author’s Note. This is Isabelle's book all the way and she is a commendable lead particularly in the Sanitarium when despite being selectively mute makes her voice heard and in the end when she confronts Gregory for his deception and cruelty.