Among the Mad (Maisie Dobbs, Book 6)
by Jacqueline Winspear
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jacqueline WinspearEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-11-24
ISBN: 0312429258
Number of pages: 336
Publisher: Picador
Book Reviews of Among the Mad (Maisie Dobbs, Book 6)
Book Review: A powerful work of fiction as well as a murder mystery
Summary: 5 Stars
Jacqueline Winspear's Maisie Dobbs series is a beautifully written set of murder mysteries that are not only well and carefully plotted but give voice to a problem that seems to arise with nearly every generation, the wellbeing of returning soldiers after the band has stopped playing. Here the forgotten heroes are from the World War I era.
Suffering shell-shock, battle fatigue or post-traumatic stress disorder, as it is variously termed, or from exposure to various types of gas, the young men who fought and suffered during the years of 1914-1918 return to a society that wants to forget the war and move on to the brave new world of the 1920s and 30s. The Jazz Era, filled with social changes at least for those with money, see a world turned on its head. Life is lived fast and loose by the younger generation , thus getting as much out of the situation as possible in order to put nasty memories behind one. The elder generation see it as an alcoholic madness and wonder where their children are going.
The war, fought to preserve the old ways and values, has produced a massive change in demography. Old families have lost their heirs, leaving elders or daughters as the last of their line. Thousands of women find themselves without prospect of matrimony, heretofore the only "legitimate occupation" for a woman at least of the middle and upper classes, and society has begrudgingly allowed them to seek employment outside of the home. Most realize they will never marry or have children and will have to provide for themselves into old age. Because the war has stripped society of its young men, women have had to take up the slack even in the closely guarded male dominated professions of medicine and business, and they push for voting rights, post war pensions and other badges of equality, creating tension and confusion between the genders.
By the end of the decade, a massive economic depression disenfranchises the war generation, putting working men out of jobs and the poor and the war wounded into the street. The world is a bleak place, and the rising shadow of a second war and further sacrifices looms over the 1930s. "Among the Mad" presents this world and its inhabitants in a compelling way. Maisie is herself a "modern woman." She has her own business and supports social changes that benefit those who served their country during the previous decade. Having served as a nurse during the conflict, she too suffers loss of loved ones and loss of self. She deals with the men in her society as an equal, despite the non-level playing field, and contributes to some of the events of her time.
The mystery itself is more like a Simenon mystery, The Madman of Bergerac, with the reader able to peek into the mind of the murderer by means of letters written to various people. The motivating factors become more apparent as Maisie searches for the identity of the author of the letters and to that of a suicide who seemed to have some connection to the threats he poses. The action is carefully scripted, not only to resolve the crimes but to illuminate the theater in which they are perpetrated. There is no sense of an aimless rambling by the author; she knows where she's going with the plot and with the characters. So much is this so that the reader has a sense that these are real people with real pasts and presents and with real futures at stakes. The prose is well composed, with an almost poetic choice of words creating an aura of time, place and moment. The book is much more than a murder mystery; it is a very competent work of fiction.
Summary of Among the Mad (Maisie Dobbs, Book 6)
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
"An outstanding historical series . . . deeply empathetic.? (The New York Times Book Review)
Christmas Eve, 1931. On the way to see a client, Maisie Dobbs witnesses a man commit suicide on a busy London street. The following day, the Prime Minister?s office receives a letter threatening a massive loss of life if certain demands are not met--and the writer mentions Maisie by name. Tapped by Scotland Yard?s elite Special Branch to be a special adviser on the case, Maisie is soon involved in a race against time to find a man who proves he has the knowledge and will to inflict destruction on thousands of innocent people.
In Among the Mad, Jacqueline Winspear combines a heart-stopping story with a rich evocation of a fascinating period to create her most compelling and satisfying novel yet.
Jacqueline Winspear on Among the Mad
From the time I realized that in Maisie Dobbs I had a series character, I've wanted to explore further the phenomenon of the range of war neuroses known to the layperson as "shell shock," and how we see those whose behavior isn't always within the bounds of what we consider "normal." I also wanted to look again, through the lens of story and history, at the manner in which society treats wounded veterans, especially those whose wounds cannot be seen, but are of the mind and spirit. To do this, I drew as much upon personal experience as my research. As many of my readers know, my grandfather suffered both physical wounds and shell shock in the Great War, and as a child I remember having to be quiet around him, so as not to excite or trouble an elderly man with terrible memories. Later, in my mid-teens, I attended a school where we were required to undertake community service one afternoon each week (and we had to attend school on Saturday mornings to make up for it!). So, on Wednesday afternoons, I joined a small group who visited a psychiatric hospital--to talk to the patients, make the tea, read to them and generally offer kindness and companionship. I can recall many of the patients, some who were obviously not able to live outside an institution, and others who inspired one to wonder why they were there at all--and when you found out, the reason was often shocking. I remember one patient I talked with each week, an astoundingly sharp, intelligent man. He had been a top-ranking surgeon, one who was regarded as almost without peer. He was also a madman, a murderer. I thought of him often while writing Among the Mad.
Last year, during my book tour, a military chaplain came to one of my events and stayed behind afterwards to talk to me. He told me that he recommended my books to the families of those who have suffered loss during the Iraq war, and especially to people who are trying to accommodate the special needs of a soldier suffering from what we today call Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD). He added that in reading a story where such losses are suffered in a time of war, yet separated by history, it facilitates a deeper understanding of what the returning veteran might be experiencing, and challenges involved in coming home from war.
The recent news that servicemen and woman wounded by PTSD will not be eligible for the Military Order of the Purple Heart--awarded to US military personnel who have been wounded or killed in a war zone--struck a chord. In Britain during and following the Great War there was much controversy about war neuroses, and many soldiers were denied a pension as a result of a clampdown on the diagnosis of shell shock. In my second novel, Birds of a Feather, one of the characters says, "That?s the trouble with war, it?s never over when it's over, it lives on inside the living." Such a sentiment is never more true than in the case of the man or woman who has served their country in a time of war, but who has to live with that war reverberating in their mind every single day for the rest of their lives. Maisie Dobbs is such a person, as is the person she is in a race to find in Among the Mad.
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