The Mad Women's Ball

[Victoria Mas’s]… portrait of women who were unfairly banished to asylums often because they did not fit into the straightjacket of 19th-century society is moving… beautifully drawn. * THE TIMES *THE MAD WOMEN’S BALL is a darkly sumptuous tale of wicked spectacle, wild injustice and the insuppressible strength of women. Mas brings the world of La Salpêtrière to life with passion and fury, unveiling a hypnotic theatre that is as moving as it is macabre. * Emma Stonex, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Lamplighters *[An] essential story of women resisting the unjust exertion of male power. * SUNDAY TIMES *In this darkly delightful Gothic treasure, Mas explores grief, trauma and sisterhood behind the walls of Paris’ infamous Salpetriere hospital. * PAULA HAWKINS, Sunday Times bestselling author of A SLOW FIRE BURNING and THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN *Elegantly written, Victoria Mas’s slender, potent debut celebrates sisterhood, while also exposing the corrupt powers of the patriarchy at home and in the wider world. * DAILY MAIL *Enthralling and wonderfully imagined… written with terrific verve and sympathy. * LITERARY REVIEW *A deftly woven tale of hope and pain, judgement and redemption, cruelty and kindness. Utterly captivating and profoundly affecting, the story of The Salpêtrière lingers long in the mind after the stunning conclusion. I loved it. * Miranda Dickinson *A beautifully written debut set in Paris in 1885, Victoria Mas’ characters come to life within a sentence while her storytelling compels you to turn the page. I loved The Mad Women’s Ball and have absolutely no doubt it will be one of my favourite novels of 2021. * AJ PEARCE, author of DEAR MRS BIRD *‘Beautifully written and captures the world so well. A delight to read.’ * Renee Knight *A gothic, feminist book …so cinematic it is already being turned into a film…it evokes the Brontës, with its dormitories, its phials and its ghosts. But thematically, it is bang up to date. * BIG ISSUE *

Victoria Mas’s debut novel, The Mad Women’s Ball, has won several prizes in France, including the Prix Stanislas and Prix Renaudot des Lycéens, and was the bestselling debut of the year. Victoria has worked in film in the United States, where she lived for eight years. She graduated from the Sorbonne in Contemporary Literature. The Mad Women’s Ball is now an Amazon Prime Video Original Film starring Mélanie Laurent and Lou de Louâge.

Frank Wynne is an Irish literary translator, writer, and editor. He has translated more than a hundred French and Hispanic novels by authors including Michel Houellebecq, Patrick Modiano, Javier Cercas, and Virginie Despentes. Over a career spanning more than twenty-five years, his work has twice earned him the Dublin Literary Award, he has been awarded the Scott Moncrieff Prize on three occasions, and the Premio Valle Inclán twice. Most recently, his translation of The Annual Banquet of the Gravediggers Guild by Mathias Énard won the 2024 French-American Prize. He was the first translator to chair the jury for the International Booker Prize.

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