About the e-Book
Two young women, living centuries apart, both accused of madness, communicate across time to fight a common enemy...their doctors.
Emilie Autumn's underground novel phenomenon is born again in this completely re-imagined immersive eBook that includes the as-yet-unsolved “armchair treasure hunt,” The Quest for the Spoon of the Royals.
This beautifully designed eBook contains dozens of immersive elements including puzzle-filled illustrations, hidden links to new music, additional writings, and character backgrounds, atmospheric audio tracks to read along with, secret ways to get in contact with the Asylum's characters yourself, and, if you're clever enough to find the key, exclusive access to never-before-heard songs from the upcoming The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls: The Musical.
Far from being second best to a print version, Emilie has packed this eBook with surprises a printed book could never contain.
About the Story
"It was the dog who found me."
Such is the stark confession launching the harrowing scene that begins The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls as Emilie Autumn, a young musician on the verge of a bright career, attempts suicide by overdosing on the antipsychotics prescribed to treat her bipolar disorder. Upon being discovered, Emilie is revived and immediately incarcerated in a maximum-security psych ward, despite her protestations that she is not crazy, and can provide valid reasons for her actions if someone would only listen.
Treated as a criminal, heavily medicated, and stripped of all freedoms, Emilie is denied communication with the outside world, and falls prey to the unwelcome attentions of Dr. Sharp, head of the hospital's psychiatry department. As Dr. Sharp grows more predatory by the day, Emilie begins a secret diary to document her terrifying experience, and to maintain her sanity in this environment that could surely drive anyone mad. But when Emilie opens her notebook to find a desperate letter from a young woman imprisoned within an insane asylum in Victorian England, and bearing her own name and description, a portal to another world is blasted wide open.
As these letters from the past continue to appear, Emilie escapes further into this mysterious alternate reality where sisterhoods are formed, romance between female inmates blossoms, striped wallpaper writhes with ghosts, and highly intellectual rats speak the Queen's English.
But is it real? Or is Emilie truly as mad as she is constantly told she is?
The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls blurs harsh reality and magical historical fantasy whilst issuing a scathing critique of society's treatment of women and the mental health care industry's treatment of its patients, showing in the process that little has changed throughout the ages.
Welcome to the Asylum. Are you committed?
“The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls is lots of fun, a kind of ‘women in prison’ movie with an (Oliver) Twist. It’s cleverly structured, bouncing effortlessly between the Victorian and modern eras, and comes complete with scary, perilous situations, vivid characters—plucky heroines, evil villains, and intelligent, talking rats—to an ultimately thoughtful, poignant ending. Put down your Dickens for a bit and give it a read.”
