“𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔭𝔥𝔶𝔰𝔦𝔠𝔞𝔩 𝔯𝔢𝔭𝔲𝔩𝔰𝔦𝔳𝔢𝔫𝔢𝔰𝔰 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔣𝔢𝔪𝔞𝔩𝔢 𝔟𝔬𝔡𝔶 𝔦𝔰 𝔫𝔬𝔱 𝔞 𝔪𝔞𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔬𝔣 𝔯𝔞𝔠𝔢, 𝔢𝔱𝔥𝔫𝔦𝔠 𝔦𝔡𝔢𝔫𝔱𝔦𝔱𝔶, 𝔬𝔯 𝔱𝔦𝔫𝔠𝔱𝔲𝔯𝔢 𝔬𝔣 𝔰𝔨𝔦𝔫; 𝔯𝔞𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯, 𝔞𝔫 𝔦𝔫𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔦𝔱𝔞𝔫𝔠𝔢 𝔣𝔯𝔬𝔪 𝔈𝔳𝔢 𝔞𝔠𝔠𝔢𝔭𝔱𝔢𝔡 𝔞𝔰 𝔰𝔲𝔠𝔥 𝔟𝔶 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔴𝔦𝔰𝔢𝔰𝔱 𝔣𝔢𝔪𝔞𝔩𝔢𝔰.”

Published: 21/05/2024
Genre: Horror
Page count: 453
Format read: 📖
Other books read by this author: None

Loosely based on various historical figures, 𝐁𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫’s biography of doctor Silas Weir draws on several sources; Weir’s autobiography & the words of his ‘prized patient’ Brigit Kinealy, as well as those of Weir’s eldest son & the asylum’s gravedigger. 
Weir’s gentlemanly storytelling skirts around the depravity of his actions, making the reader at times almost sympathetic to his cause (reminiscent of Humbert Humbert in Lolita, ‘you can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style’). However, as the novel progresses, his mask starts to slip more & more as his cruelty is revealed in the matter of fact way he proposes the barbaric experiments he means to carry out on asylum inmates, who he views as less than human. His opinions on women, though no doubt partly influenced by the time period, are utterly rage-inducing, & attempts to use his religious zeal to excuse his deep hatred of women is laughable (as his son Jonathan puts it in his editor’s note: “Though father regarded the female vagina as a "hell-hole of filth & corruption" & the female genitals as "loathsome in design, function, & aesthetics," yet somehow it happened by God's interdiction that there were nine of us borne of his loins & the womb of dear Mother”). 
As Weir begins by degrees to show his true self, the words of others serve to show the gulf between the way Weir sees himself, & the way he is seen by the females in his care; a juxtaposition that is both fascinating & deeply upsetting. Personally I would have preferred more from the points of view of the women 'treated' by Weir, but in a way their remaining silenced says more about the time that the novel is set & the views on women by the medical profession at the time. Indeed, the only female given a voice by editor Jonathan is one that he has a personal stake in, so this is no doubt entirely intentional on the part of the author; men being given free rein to tell their stories, & the audience left to read between the lines to discover the truth.