Welcome back to the Crochet By Megs Book Club!! I hope you enjoyed the Mesmerist as much as I did!!
What a unique concept for a book! Set in London in the 1800s The Mesmerist follows the story of Cordelia born in poverty to her actress mother and mesmerist aunt. She works hard to master the acting craft and catch the eye of a wealthy young noble who can save her from a life of struggle and poverty. She is successful and catches the eye of Lord Ellis.
Most actresses would be happy to be a kept mistress Cordelia will settle for nothing but marriage. This leads to a dilemma for Lord Ellis, he can't marry Cordelia she is too far below him. Instead he fakes their marriage and hides her in Wales.
Cordelia is thrilled that she has married Lord Ellis and lives in Wales with their three children until one day she is called to meet Lord Ellis in London where she finds not her husband but a lawyer who informs her that her marriage was a sham and he is keeping the kids. She rushes back to Wales but the children are already gone and she returns to London to live with her Aunt Hester and try to take up acting again.
But now she has gotten so much older and there is not much work for her or her friend Rillie. After her Aunt Hester passes away Cordelia comes up with a scheme to earn money. She and Rillie will set up shop as mesmerists who council couples before marriage.
This book was so good! I loved how intricate the plot was, all the small twists and turns that lead you to the final big conclusion! The characters were so real and individual. I really enjoyed how the book dealt not only with the individual characters and their drama, but with the idea of what medical treatment was like back then, the difference in standards and practice, how propriety effected the lives of women both medically and in their everyday life, the controversy that mesmerism and all holistic healing was in the medical community and society at large.
If you read this book along with me I hope you enjoyed it! Share your thoughts in the comments below! If you didn't get a chance to pick this one up yet I'd highly recommend you do! And if you liked this book as much as me, there is a sequel titled The Circus of Ghosts that is I'm told even better than the first one!
And it is time to choose the next book for the Crochet By Megs Book Club to read...............
Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Theresa Anne Fowler
Hope you can join us for the next read and I will report back on this lovely book in the new year! Normally we would meet in 6 weeks but as that will be smack dab in the middle of the holidays we'll meet right after! Happy reading!
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