I’ve just finished Broadmoor Women by Kim E. Thomas, which has been an amazing read! Published by Pen and Sword books (check them out at www.pen-and-sword.co.uk or on instagram at instagram.com/penswordbooks), it introduces Broadmoor as told through the lives and crimes of seven different women in the late 1800s.
Broadmoor is a well known psychiatric hospital in the UK. Opened in 1863, it has been housing people who have been found not guilty by reason of insanity or guilty but insane as well as those who have been sent to prison and subsequently needed help psychiatric care.
One of the most fascinating things about this book is that, as the author points out, the stories of the lower classes (and women in particular) in those times are essentially lost. They didn’t have time to write letters or keep diaries, and even they did, oftentimes they were illiterate.
This book is a fascinating glimpse into what life must have been like for women in the 1800s, and the Broadmoor archives have helped these stories come alive. Similar in style to The Five by Hallie Rubenhold (a brilliant look at the lives of the five canonical victims of Jack the Ripper - well worth a read!), I would absolutely recommend this book to anybody interested in the history of the mental health of women, in how those found not guilty by reason of insanity were treated, or those who are looking for glimpses of 19th century life.
Well worth the read, and I’ll be buying a copy! Available through Pen & Sword’s website or through Amazon.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Pen & Sword books for supplying me with a copy of this book. This review is my own opinion and freely given.
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