Izzy, a foster child, is a senior at a new high school. Her mother is in prison for shooting and killing her father, and Izzy has refused to see her mother in prison. While with her new foster parents, she starts working at the local museum where they are cataloging items from a closed state asylum.
Among these items is a journal belonging to Clara Cartwright. At eighteen years old in 1929, Clara defies her parents and does not want to marry who they have picked out for her because she has fallen in love with somebody else. Her parents do not approve and she is sent to a genteel home for nervous invalids. After her parents lose their fortune in the stock market crash, she is sent to a public asylum.
Clara’s story was really interesting. How could somebody be sent to an insane asylum against their will when they are not crazy? Reading about what they considered a treatment was disturbing. They put patients in ice cold water until they became unconscious. They put patients in insulin induced comas. Patients were forced to sit for hours at a time, and if they asked to go to the bathroom, they were beaten. Meanwhile, through all of this poor Clara is pregnant and nobody believes her.
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