A peek into the shadows
May has been designated as Mental Health Awareness Month since 1949. Today, mental health is more widely considered a part of overall health, but it hasn’t always been that way.
Independence author Crystal Caudill delves into the perception of mental illness during the turn of the 19th century Gilded Age in her novel, Sung in the Shadows. Set in Cincinnati and involving actual businesses of the time, the story combines the world of performing arts with a dark and dangerous mystery, sprinkled with a little romance.
Once-famed opera singer Constanza Brisbane, after allegedly killing a man, has been deemed mentally unstable and institutionalized in the Longview Asylum for the Insane. The lingering threats resulting from Constanza’s checkered past cause her and her family to live a life looking over one shoulder, taking extreme measures to avoid being found.
Meanwhile, her daughter, Nora, is nearing spinster age, further complicated by the overprotected and sheltered life upon that Nora’s father insists she lead. She has her mother’s talent, but will it ever reach an audience’s ears? Not if her father has his way.
A coincidence in timing introduces Ezekiel Beaumont into Nora’s life. Ezekiel’s mother is also a patient in the asylum, where he visits her during breaks from his theater work. Thanks in part to Mrs. Beaumont’s very expressive and cantankerous cat, Tristan, the two become acquainted, much against Nora’s better judgment. Will Ezekiel open the world of opera, maybe even of love, to Nora—or will he open the door to danger for her and her family?
Be prepared for a rising heart rate and edge-of-the-seat suspense as both Constanza’s and Nora’s stories unfold. Caudill also candidly shares the commonly prescribed treatments mental patients endured in this time period, all in the name of recovery.
When Longview opened in 1860, it was considered the best-appointed institution of its kind in the country. With the inclusion of a chapel, a library and even a bowling alley, Longview presented more like a resort than a hospital. However, overcrowding, high staff turnover rates and a limited understanding of mental health contributed to the nightmare stories that came from its inner sanctum that visiting families were never allowed to see.
Research and writing
Crystal Caudill grew up in Georgetown but relocated to Northern Kentucky and decided to get to know Cincinnati by setting her books there. She is a self-proclaimed history nerd who loves researching her themes as much as writing about them. Writing has been a part of her life for so long that she says, “It became the tool through which God taught and spoke to me. The stories came through my fingertips, but they were marked with His fingerprints.”
Sung in the Shadows, (Kregel Publishing, $17.99), can be purchased on Amazon or at any major book retailer. Connect with Caudill at www.crystalcaudill.com.
