THE WOMAN THEY COULD NOT SILENCE : The Shocking Story of a Woman Who Dared To Fight Back by Kate Moore - REVIEW & GIVEAWAY

It's hard for me to believe that husbands were once able to have their wives committed to an insane asylum just because he didn't like what she said or that she read too much. In Kate Moore's new book, THE WOMAN THEY COULD NOT SILENCE (Sourcebooks) a lot has changed over 160 years, but a lot hasn't. Moore's non-fiction book is the true story of Elizabeth Packard.

Elizabeth's pastor husband of 21-years has her locked up because she doesn't follow his religious beliefs and dares to challenge him with her intellect, independence and own thoughts. He believes "something is wrong upstairs" and she has to be experiencing an "unhinged meltdown" to defy him. With the assistance of one unsavory doctor, and men who believe his every word, her husband is able to keep her apart from her six children and incarcerated for over three years. Inside the Illinois State Hospital, she meets rational women like herself, who aren't mad, but don't embrace society's norms. She also witnesses abuse and inhumane treatment inflicted on so-called patients by the staff.

Elizabeth has nothing to lose, so she begins the war she will wage until she passes. After years of fighting to get out and have due process, she's finally given her day in court. It isn't easy. She has to fight the patriarchy with every ounce of courage, intellect and mostly on her own. She writes books and stays the course, eventually getting laws passed in the Illinois legislature that challenge the existing ones.

But today, many woman are still called crazy, insane or suffering from hysteria if they speak out. Cases in point, Donald Trump calling Nancy Pelosi crazy in 2019, Rose McGowan becoming the target of a campaign to make her seem "increasingly unglued" while she tried (and succeeded) in exposing Harvey Weinstein for his sexual crimes and supermodel, Janice Dickinson being told she was "totally crazy" for accusing Bill Cosby of rape. 

Every single time Elizabeth Packard was knocked down, she picked herself up, dusted herself off and continued the fight. That's what we must do; continue to fight even though it's difficult and often goes against the grain.

                                  *****

 

Kate has written eleven novels. In April 2017, one of those eleven books, The Radium Girls, was published in America. It became one of the bestselling history books of the year and was an instant New York Times bestseller upon publication of the paperback. It also won multiple awards, including the Goodreads Choice Award for Best History.

 

The book was a labour of love for Kate, who discovered the girls’ story while directing a play about them. (Alongside her publishing career, Kate has always maintained her love of theatre, appearing as an actress in countless productions over the years.) Wanting to ensure her production of These Shining Lives by Melanie Marnich was as authentic as possible, Kate conducted lots of research on the radium girls and was amazed to discover that no book existed that focused on the women themselves. Feeling passionately that they deserved such a book, Kate decided to write it. Her research took her four thousand miles across an ocean to follow in the women’s footsteps. She stood at the sites of the dial-painting studios, visited the women’s homes and graves and met their families, and remembered the radium girls. She hoped, through her book, that readers would do the same.

 

Since publication, Kate has personally presented the story of the radium girls in close to thirty states. She has also been lucky enough to continue that writing career she dreamed of as a little girl.

 

Her passion as a writer is to help people to have a voice, especially those silenced through injustice. With every book, she hopes to take readers on a visceral journey so that they too can experience the extraordinary lives of others.

Thanks to Sourcebooks we have a copy to giveaway. Just tell us what your favorite history book about an unsung hero is. We'll announce a winner soon. Good luck.

GIVEAWAY: USA only please