The Madwomen of Paris

Epstein (Wunderland) takes listeners to 18th-century Paris, where a psychological condition known as hysteria has filled institutions with women who receive experimental and often damaging treatment. At the Salpêtrière women’s asylum, world-renowned doctor Jean-Martin Charcot uses hypnosis as a research technique to study the condition. Once a patient, Laure now works as an attendant and has been assigned to work with Josephine, a new patient. Josephine arrived covered in blood and emotionally devastated, though she can’t remember what happened to precipitate her appearance at the asylum. Charcot deploys Josephine, who is easily hypnotized, as a subject for his public lectures, where he exploits her using his misguided theories. Josephine continues to suffer, but under Laure’s care, her memory returns, and she reveals that she has committed an awful crime. Laure wonders if Josephine’s memories are real or if the doctor has damaged her mind irrevocably. Narrator Kiiri Sandy captures Laure’s increasing worries for Josephine as she plans an escape for them both. Listeners will appreciate Sandy’s facility with languages; she seamlessly delivers the novel’s French phrases and words.