The Illness Lesson
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3.0 • 2 Ratings
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- £6.99
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- £6.99
Publisher Description
'A modern scream of female outrage. A masterpiece' ELIZABETH GILBERT
'Astoundingly original . . . belongs on the shelf with your Margaret Atwood' NEW YORK TIMES
Haunting, intense and irresistible, The Illness Lesson is an extraordinary debut about women's minds and bodies, and the time-honoured tradition of doubting both.
In 1871, at an elite new school designed to shape the minds of young women, the inscrutable and defiant Eliza Bell has been overwhelmed by an inexplicable illness.
Before long, the other girls start to succumb to its peculiar symptoms - rashes, tics,
night wanderings and fits.
As the disease takes hold, teacher Caroline Hood tries desperately to hide her own symptoms, but
the powers-that-be turn to a sinister physician with dubious methods.
Does Caroline have the courage to confront the all-male, all-knowing authorities of her world
and protect the young women in her care?
'You want to know how horrifying things happened while decent people looked on and did nothing? Read this novel' MARY BETH KEANE
'Subtle, clever, suspenseful . . . builds to a shocking climax' DIANE SETTERFIELD
'A Sunday Times Book to Read in 2020: A classic ghost story for fans of Picnic at Hanging Rock, Deborah Levy, Jeffrey Eugenides' SUNDAY TIMES STYLE
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Beams's daring debut novel (after the story collection We Show What We Have Learned) imagines a school for teenage girls in the mid-19th century Massachusetts countryside. Here, at a failed commune, sensitive Caroline lives with her idealistic, ambitious father, Samuel, and his admirer David, for whom 20-something Caroline harbors secret feelings. When Samuel starts a school dedicated to the intellectual awakening of its eight young women students, things quickly go astray. Following the lead of Eliza, the daughter of a rival of Samuel, the girls begin to exhibit a variety of physical ailments headaches, skin irritations, and sleepwalking as does, to her own horror, Caroline, a teacher at the school. When an unscrupulous doctor is brought in to test an experimental treatment on the girls, Caroline must decide whether to stay loyal to her father or question his authority. Though there is a fantastical thread about a flock of mysterious, aggressive, blood-red birds that doesn't fit well with the otherwise plausible plot, Beams excels in her depiction of Caroline, an intriguingly complex character, and in her depiction of the school, which allows the reader a clear view of changing gender roles in the period, with parallels to today's sexual abuse scandals. This powerful and resonant feminist story will move readers. Correction: An earlier version of this review misspelled the author's first name.
