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The Asylum by John Harwood
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The Asylum (original 2013; edition 2014)

by John Harwood (Author)

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3573172,160 (3.45)14
Fiction. Suspense. Thriller. Historical Fiction. HTML:

A brilliant new Gothic thriller from the acclaimed author of The Ghost Writer and The Séance

Confused and disoriented, Georgina Ferrars awakens in a small room in Tregannon House, a private asylum in a remote corner of England. She has no memory of the past few weeks. The doctor, Maynard Straker, tells her that she admitted herself under the name Lucy Ashton the day before and then suffered a seizure. When she insists he has mistaken her for someone else, Dr. Straker sends a telegram to her uncle, who replies that Georgina Ferrars is at home with him in London: "Your patient must be an imposter."

Suddenly her voluntary confinement becomes involuntary. Who is the woman in her uncle's house? And what has become of her two most precious possessions, a dragonfly pin left to her by her mother and a journal that contains the only record of those missing weeks? Georgina's perilous quest to free herself takes her from a cliffside cottage on the Isle of Wight to the secret passages of Tregannon House and into a web of hidden family ties on which her survival depends.

Here is another delicious read from the author praised by Ruth Rendell as having "a gift for creating suspense, apparently effortlessly, as if it belongs in the nature of fiction."… (more)

Member:26kathryn
Title:The Asylum
Authors:John Harwood (Author)
Info:Vintage (2014), 272 pages
Collections:Wishlist
Rating:
Tags:wishlist

Work Information

The Asylum by John Harwood (2013)

  1. 00
    The Girl Who Couldn't Read by John Harding (HollyMS)
    HollyMS: Both are historical gothic fiction set in Victorian asylums.
  2. 00
    Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (HollyMS)
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» See also 14 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 31 (next | show all)
This is a real page-turner. There are more twists and turns in it than Lombard st. A young woman who is not told the circumstances of her past loses her home and her caretaker aunt in a storm. When she goes to London to live with her only remaining relative, an uncle who owns a bookstore for antique. Her boring life takes an exciting turn when she meets a needy lookalike who she takes to her bosom, and invites her to move in. But a scheme to have her mother's letters and documents released to her backfires, and she wakes up in a mental asylum, under a strange name, and with amnesia. ( )
  burritapal | Oct 23, 2022 |
I love gothic type novels especially those that take place in large, scary buildings.
I started this book and really wanted to know how it ended, but I could not bring myself to finish the book. I liked the main character and the patient/doctor that she makes friends with, but the writing style could not hold my interest. ( )
  pjburnswriter | Aug 7, 2020 |
Asylum. John Harwood. 2014. I did not read books on my Kindle during the quarantine so this is the first book I chose to read when I could go back to the gym. Georgina wakes up in an asylum and is told she is not who she knows she is. She is told she committed herself for rest. Georgina must prove to herself and to others who she is by escaping and discovering the truth about her past. Written in the ( )
  judithrs | Jun 6, 2020 |
This is a great novel, and well worth the read. It’s atmospheric, gothic, has this twisty mystery going on with some red herrings thrown in, and even if you think you know exactly what’s going on in the novel, you may probably be wrong. (I was close, but.......). Either way, I was captivated, and didn’t want to stop listening until the very end.
The audiobook is narrated by Rosalyn Landor who was absolutely perfect for this novel, and this time period. She was brilliant.
4 solid stars, and recommended. ( )
  stephanie_M | Apr 30, 2020 |
4.25 stars review to come

Confused and disoriented, Georgina Ferrars awakens in a small room in Tregannon House, a private asylum in a remote corner of England. She has no memory of the past few weeks. The doctor, Maynard Straker, tells her that she admitted herself under the name Lucy Ashton the day before, then suffered a seizure. When she insists he has mistaken her for someone else, Dr. Straker sends a telegram to her uncle, who replies that Georgina Ferrars is at home with him in London: “Your patient must be an imposter.”

This being the second book I have read by the author I can say I was not let down, I already have picked up another book to read [b:The Ghost Writer|123031|The Ghost Writer|John Harwood|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1442351970l/123031._SY75_.jpg|1332325].

This book remained faster paced than The Seance but it still somehow stuck a little less with me, I also found the story line at times hard to follow mostly because they flowed so easily between each other, which is a nice reason for them to be hard to follow. Again the author gives us good strong characters and foundations for them, making us like/hate/ feel unsure about characters and gives us a slight mystery and very much explosive moment before the end tapers into a very classic Gothic style story where you feel happy with the end (( think Stonehearst Asylum, Bronte etc. ))

( )
  basilsbooks | Dec 30, 2019 |
Showing 1-5 of 31 (next | show all)
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Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
John Harwoodprimary authorall editionscalculated
Landor, RosalynNarratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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FOR ROBIN
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I woke, as it seemed, from a nightmare of being stretched on the rack, only to sink into another dream in which I was lying in a strange bed, afraid to open my eyes for fear of what I might see.
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Fiction. Suspense. Thriller. Historical Fiction. HTML:

A brilliant new Gothic thriller from the acclaimed author of The Ghost Writer and The Séance

Confused and disoriented, Georgina Ferrars awakens in a small room in Tregannon House, a private asylum in a remote corner of England. She has no memory of the past few weeks. The doctor, Maynard Straker, tells her that she admitted herself under the name Lucy Ashton the day before and then suffered a seizure. When she insists he has mistaken her for someone else, Dr. Straker sends a telegram to her uncle, who replies that Georgina Ferrars is at home with him in London: "Your patient must be an imposter."

Suddenly her voluntary confinement becomes involuntary. Who is the woman in her uncle's house? And what has become of her two most precious possessions, a dragonfly pin left to her by her mother and a journal that contains the only record of those missing weeks? Georgina's perilous quest to free herself takes her from a cliffside cottage on the Isle of Wight to the secret passages of Tregannon House and into a web of hidden family ties on which her survival depends.

Here is another delicious read from the author praised by Ruth Rendell as having "a gift for creating suspense, apparently effortlessly, as if it belongs in the nature of fiction."

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