From one of our most accomplished storytellers, an extraordinary and arresting novel about a women-s asylum in the nineteenth century, and a terrifying doctor who wants to change the world.In this harrowing story based on authentic historical documents, we follow the career of Dr. Silas Weir, -Father of Gyno-Psychiatry,- as he ascends from professional anonymity to national renown. Humiliated by a procedure gone terribly wrong, Weir is forced to take a position at the New Jersey Asylum for Female Lunatics, where he reigns. There, he is allowed to continue his practice, unchecked for decades, making a name for himself by focusing on women who have been neglected by the state-women he subjects to the most grotesque modes of experimentation. As he begins to establish himself as a pioneer of nineteenth-century surgery, Weir-s ambition is fueled by his obsessive fascination with a young Irish indentured servant named Brigit, who becomes not only Weir-s primary experimental subject, but also
