supercheesegirl

My god, can this woman write. This the second of her books that I've read, and both I've picked up completely by accident. I read In the Country of the Young a year and a half ago and completely adored it. That was her second novel. Love in the Asylum is her third, and my mom picked it up in hardback for cheap at the outlet marketplace. It's beautifully written, with a haunting, lovely story. It's about Alba, a troubled young woman with mental and emotional problems, and Oscar, a drug addict, and Mary, who died in the 1940s, and the asylum where their respective stories twine together. Alba's sections are told in third person; Oscar's, in first person; and Mary's, in the form of letters to her son. Periodically we'll see asylum paperwork by or about any of the characters, revealing what their psychiatrists actually think of them. It would be a terrific novel if we just saw Alba and Oscar, because their love story is so poignant and sweet, but when we add Mary's story the whole thing becomes complex and amazing. Highly recommended.