Nyxen's Review of "Wildthorn"

Wildthorn by Jane Eagland
352 Pages
Houghton Mifflin
September 2010

Louisa Cosgrove is Louisa Cosgrove-not Lucy Childs. Or, is she? A horse-drawn carriage takes her to the wrong place: Wildthorn Hall, an aslyum for the insane.

This must be an understanding.
They strip her naked, of everything-undo her whalebone corset hook by hook. They take her identity. But she is still seventeen-still Louisa Cosgrove-isn't she?

To untangle the mysterious, wretched present, she remembers the past.

I wish I were a boy.

Locked away in the dingy bowels of the hall, she feels a fire burn inside her. She remembers her cousin. She remembers Papa.

I want to be a doctor.

She is determined to escape-and only love will set her free.

Wildthorn is a beautifully written novel that had me at the edge of my seat. When I first read it, I was a bit bored. But after a couple more pages I was hooked. I read this whole thing in a night. Staying up until midnight on a school night to finish the book was a very good decision. I don't regret doing it.

Louisa Cosgrove life is turned upside down once she steps through Wildthorn. She then must find out why she was put in the aslyum and escape, before she does become crazy. I don't want to give anything away because it's not out in the US yet. Louisa finds love but from the most unlikely person. I was shocked when I found out about her lover but I also smiled because love is unexplainable with anyone. I don't want to give anything away since this book isn't out in the US but I definitely reccommend it. Jane Eagland is such an inspiration that she gets me thinking. She writes in a way that transfixes you and you can't seem to escape.

I rate Wildthorn Five Stars.