Kathy Hepinstall has long been a Lemuria staff favorite so I was thrilled to see a new novel, Blue Asylum, being published this past month. I, again, was not disappointed and immediately passed it around the bookstore.
Iris Dunleavy is on her way to an island off the coast of Florida, unfortunately it is not a vacation to escape the chaos of the Civil War. On her way to the island, Iris considers her predicament and we learn that while she was raised a Quaker and is a staunch abolitionist she fell in love, married, and thought she could change her new husband and the ways of the plantation life. She soon realized this was not going to be the case and decided to run away with a group of slaves that belonged to her husband, Robert Dunleavy. Iris was arrested and put on trail where she was found to be insane. She is sentenced to Sanibel Asylum where the doctor is known for his “modern” technique that will set wives back on ‘the straight path’ and obey their husbands.
I truly was interested in every character in this book, the self-proclaimed insane Doctor’s son, Wendell, to Ambrose, the Civil War vet who is suffering from PTSD, and Dr. Cowell who just can’t seem to see what is right in front him and their relationships with Iris. While reading, Blue Asylum I continually asked myself: Who is really crazy and how fine is the line between sanity and insanity?
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