"If a physician of high standing, and one's own husband assures friends and family that there really is nothing the matter with one but temporary nervous depression - a slight hysterical tendency - what is one to do?"
This is the story of a young woman whose husband rents a summer home to enable her to recuperate after childbirth. However, what should be a relaxing getaway dissolves into a haunting psychological battle that sees her confined to an attic, drained, depressed and slowly losing her sanity.
This semi-autobiographical story was published in 1892, and immediately denounced in the press. Charlotte Perkins, a sociologist and utopian feminist, provides a startling insight into women's oppression in marriage, madness, postpartum depression, and the ignorance surrounding mental illness. Women's issues, especially as regards mental illness, were often dismissed as hysterics or out rightly ignored. And it's sadly no different today.
Perkin's work is now regarded as feminist literature for its adept portrayal of society's attitude towards the mental health of women. But it doesn't just do that. Written over a century ago, it offers insight today into society's treatment and ignorance of mental health.
It's a must read for everyone, especially for people with friends or relatives who struggle with mental health issues.