Will I love An Inconvenient Wife?

I read An Inconvenient Wife years ago and it has always stuck with me.

As I dove into my research for my book, I reread this book and was just as impressed with it as I was the first time.

Lucy is the epitome of the upper-class New York Victorian woman but only if she bends to the will of her husband and physicians. It is a classic tale of yet another 19th-century woman forced into an asylum.

Lucy is subjected not only to medications but treatment for her “hysteria” which was the common diagnosis for most women in the… show more.

Chance’s novel is a subtler take on hysteria, which I liked because not all horror, or abuse, is outright horrific. It’s often subtle and subversive, so much so, that victims often believe they are the problem, and most women diagnosed with neurasthenia (neuroticism) or hysteria believed they were broken. In fact, the term “gaslighting” comes from a film set during this historical period. Chance’s novel gives a look into how fathers, husbands, and fiancés used hysteria as a method to “fix” or get rid of inconvenient women. It also highlights that hysteria was not only tied to mental health but… show more.