The Medea Complex

Written by Rachel Florence Roberts

Narrated by Elizabeth Sastre, Jeff Woodman, Robert Ian Mackenzie and Bianca Amato

A deep and riveting psychological thriller inspired by true events of the Victorian era, The Medea Complex explores the nature of the human psyche: what possesses us, what drives us, and how love, passion, and hope for the future can drive us to insanity. 1885. Anne Stanbury wakes up in a strange bed, having been kidnapped from her home. As the panic settles in, she realizes she has been committed to a lunatic asylum, deemed insane and therefore unfit to stand trial for an unspeakable crime. But all is not as it seems . Edgar Stanbury, her husband as well as a grieving father, is torn between helping his confined wife recover her sanity and seeking revenge for his ruined life. But Anne's future rests wholly in the hands of Dr. George Savage, chief medical officer of Bethlem Royal Hospital. The Medea Complex is the darkly compelling story of a lunatic, a lie, and a shocking revelation that elucidates the difference between madness and evil .

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 3, 2015
• ISBN: 9781490684482

Reviews for The Medea Complex

[mmollett-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is not my normal type of book but something about it did grab my attention. This was a pretty good book. I enjoyed the way the book was written, with multiple view points.

[krazykiwi-1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Despite the spam, This is actually something I might read (I have a bit of a thing for Bedlam Hospital, and well written Victoriana)

Or not. I popped up the look inside, hit the "surprise me" button. In a paragraph that shifts tense from present perfect to past perfect and back twice, I am told that the witnesses "strongly collaborated" someones character.

Considering how good I can the English most days, it's bad if simple grammar and completely wrong word choice are smacking me in the face right on the very first page I read. I decided not to bother, free or not.

[andrew1theqm · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book has an interesting premise and a different style, written from the perspective of the different characters throughout the book. It was very enjoyable initially, but got increasingly difficult to follow completely towards the end unless it was just me. Not surprised by the ending but I do feel the ending could have been explained a touch better. 3 stars.

[bnbookgirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a great historical novel based on the baby farming industry. I was not aware of this horrific crime that was taking place, but this is sure an eye-opener. I loved that real characters and events are mixed in with some fictional characters. The ending, is of course very upsetting and I would love to see another book that deals with the criminals from this book. This is a great story of who is telling the truth and who is the liar. It will also have you questioning who is the lunatic and who is evil. This is a must read for historical fiction enthusiasts. I will most definitely be suggesting this one to people. Would make a great discussion for book clubs as well.

[nurse73 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Fairly predictable

[urthwild · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book was received from the author for an honest review.

Honestly, I found it difficult to write the review of this particular book without giving away the plot.

Our novel begins in the then seemingly inauspicious surroundings of the Royal Bethlem hospital, a real psychiatric hospital based in London, UK and founded in 1247. Historically notorious this is the institution for which the word bedlam was first derived, 'bedlam' being a corruption of the name Bethlem, (which itself comes from the name Bethlehem). Whilst the hospital in its present incarnation bares little resemblance to the pre-19th century institution, and not just because the hospital has moved destinations three or four times over the centuries.

The Medea Complex is a first person, multi-character viewpoint novel set during the Victorian era 1885-1886. Our first and subsequently most important character is Anne, Lady Stanbury, the novel starts as she wakes alone and afraid in a darkened room, she tells us that she does not know where she is and how she came to be there; and indeed she believes herself kidnapped for ransom from her wealthy parent. Anne has amnesia, she remembers both her father and her maid Beatrix, but not her husband or her baby son. In fact, we later find out that not only she has murdered her 8-week old baby John in the most brutal way and is apparently suffering from 'Puerperal Mania' as diagnosed by eminent psychiatrist Dr. George Savage, but that her father the Lord Damsbridge has used his not insurmountable influence to get her committed to bedlam rather than prison, where she would most certainly have been hanged.

In many ways Anne's psychiatrist Dr. George Savage is the 2nd most important person in the novel and we spend a great deal of time in his company. We see him meet and interact with the main protagonist and the other leading and pivotal characters in turn. He becomes an unwitting contributor to the tangled drama. Some may find that his internal monologues, conversations, and diary notes quite shockingly misogynistic and even primitive if we judge them by our 21st century sensibilities. Indeed, it would be easy to dismiss some of the dialogue attributed to him in the novel as unrealistic, but Dr. Savage was actually a real person and a psychiatrist, or alienist as they were known, working at the Royal and many of his notes have been preserved.

Our third character is Edgar Stanbury, Anne's husband and the grieving father of baby John. It was Edgar, who discovered his wife at home covered in blood, clutching a knife with the remains of the baby she had butchered. Naturally traumatized by the memory of this scene, it plagues his thoughts day and night, and his mind turns to revenge, but yet he continually tells himself that he loves his wife still.

Our fourth character of note is Beatrix, a lady's maid, and lifelong companion to Anne, she is prepared to do anything for her mistress, whatever the cost.

You would think that I would obviously and automatically direct my sympathies to Edgar, and certainly I did just that for a short time, but I struggled to empathize with any one character during the last two thirds of the book. If have to ask yourself how likeable can a man be when a dozen servants have more sympathy for a baby's proven killer than they do for the father of the child?

Every aspect of society portrayed appears to barbarous, policemen arrest on a whim; Prisoners are kept in deplorable conditions, lawyers are corrupt or incompetent; Treatment of mental patients evidently appears to employ some sort of water boarding techniques, and children are forced into work at a young age.Of course this happens in real life, but we are in book world here.

There were one or two threads that I wished had been developed further, and a few scenarios I found just a stretch too far, and a seemingly endless list of corrupt, unlikeable characters. I was not alive in 1885, so I am not an expert on the common lingo of the time, regional or otherwise in England, but I was not one hundred percent certain that some of the words used would have been in use at the time, now this may seem unfair, and possibly go unnoticed by the majority of readers, but it caused me to pause far too many times. Also a few minor characters happened to have strong regional dialects, which is absolutely fine, but it may have been easier for the reader to declare that, or show it in one or two sentences instead of writing dialogue for them that was barely comprehensible.

The Medea is not a horror, yes a horrific incident, the killing of a young baby takes place off-screen, and is referred to throughout, but rather it is a psychological conspiracy thriller set in the Victorian era.

It might suit lovers of historical conspiracy thrillers.

I believe that the author is writing a sequel. Hopefully this will show the three victims getting some form of moral recompense, because the victors had it way, way too easy.

Urthwild

[doingdewey · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book was great both as a thriller and as historical fiction. The mystery element sucked me in right away. Little bits of what happened were slowly revealed from the perspectives of Lady Anne, her husband, and Dr. Savage. This was done very skillfully. Even though I was kept in the dark about facts the characters knew, I never felt that the author was awkwardly manipulating the characters’ thoughts or the dialogue to keep these facts hidden. It was just enough to keep me constantly curious about what happened next without getting frustrating. My only complaint with this part of the book is that the constant surprising revelations usually were obvious to me before the characters reached the same conclusions. This made some of the most intense moments of the book feel a bit anticlimactic because I was there before the characters were.

From a historical fiction perspective, I really enjoyed that the plot was so tightly integrated into the time period. The author based many of her characters and plot points on real people and events. The way women and the insane were treated in the late 1900′s was essential to the plot and the plot gave interesting insight into the time period. There were a few tiny typos in my pdf version and the dialogue was occasionally a little rough, but for the most part, the writing was perfect for the time period. The author did a great job capturing language and attitudes that would have been prevalent at the time. Even cooler, she drew on many primary sources when writing some of the psychologists notes and other parts of the book. Although the material in this book was a bit darker than my typical fare, it completely won me over with the engaging mystery and excellent historical setting. Definitely an author I’ll be watching out for in hopes of a follow-up to this spectacular debut.

This review first published on Doing Dewey.

[ladyangelica-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book caught my eye when I was browsing amazon for a new book to read. The book cover is quite catchy don’t you think? When i look up the definition of “The Medea complex” it says that it is “The situation in which the mother harbors death wishes to her offspring, usually as a revenge against the father, is described and named the Medea complex.” This book is all about a mother who was diagnosed with Madea complex or what they call in the book puerperal mania (what is now known as postpartum psychosis). The story line is dated on the 18th centur,y and for an old century themed book this is not too shabby at all. It is not hard to understand and it’s easy to relate with the characters mostly with the main character Anne Stanbury. The story line is filled with medical terms but its not too grey’s anatomy-ish. It’s Easy to understand and the plot gets heavier and exciting throughout the book. When i read this book i felt mixed emotions like sympathy for the mother, anger, sadness, and frustration. If you are a fan of medical mysteries and dark somber books you would totally like this book. All in all this is a good read, makes your brain work and can make you edgy for quite some time.

[amandacb_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This novel was a bit difficult for read for the details of the infanticide -- so if that is a difficult topic for you (understanably so), this might be a pass. I was interested in the historical aspects of insane asylums, but unfortunately there was more attention to plot manipulations than historical details to the asylums.

[bookscookslooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Medea Complex is a fascinating look at mental illness, class division and the love between parents and children. While not perfect it kept me clicking my ereader until I had found that I had read it all in in one sitting. It was weird, it was compelling, it was disgusting, it was horrifying, it was page turning fascinating.Lady Anne Stanbury wakes up in a room she doesn't recognize being greeted by people she does not know. She fears she has been kidnapped for ransom. What she does not remember is killing her infant son. Her father's influence has gotten her placed at Bethlem Royal Hospital where she is diagnosed with puerperal mania - what we now call postpartum psychosis. Her father feels she can be cured and her husband is torn between hating her and loving her.The book alternates between character viewpoints - Lady Anne's, her husband's, the doctor's and her ladies maid's. Each chapter reveals a bit more of the back story and it all slowly comes together with enough twists to tie the reader in knots for a lifetime. The ending was a complete shocker - at least for me - but parts of it were completely confusing and only understood with the reading of the author's note at the end. I think this is perhaps where a little editing might have helped. But all in all a book that made my jaw drop more than once as I was reading and one that stayed with me long after I was finished.

[auggietalk-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It has been a long time since I've read a book that impressed me to the extent that "The Medea Complex" has. When I first began the book I was mildly impressed, but somewhat aggravated by the actual insanity of the main character. The randomness of her behavior and the constant conjectures of Dr. Savage had me squirming throughout the first chapters. The squirming wasn't negative necessarily, I was enjoying the book but hadn't yet been truly drawn in.My aggravation towards Dr. Savvage had taken root without any reason much before the book even began.A few quotes that got my blood boiling:"Women. Most of them are bordering on the limits of insanity at the best of times." ~Dr. Savage"I know exactly what caused her insanity. Books. Women and their books." Dr. SavageThen it happened. I spark of strangeness that I couldn't quite shake. Some happenings that had me questioning what was really going on. Who was right? Who was wrong? Who was the liar? Who killed that baby? I was lost in the book after that.And I was confused and intrigued until the very end.Overall This book infuriated me. Obviously, from the rating, you can come to the conclusion that this is actually a very good thing. I was angry at Dr. Savage, I was angry at the nurses, I was angry at Anne's husband, and darned if I wasn't angry at Anne too! I felt sympathy, and disgust, and confusion, and compassion for our main character AND the Dr. throughout the book.Just when I had started to hate Dr. Savage with all my heart, he would do something genuinely, authentically kind. He would have an epiphany that contradicted his otherwise ignorant and sexist thoughts."Sometime simple human wamth can do wonders for a lost person." ~Dr. SavageWhat the heck, Dr.! You're not supposed to be good meaning! You're supposed to be easily hated. Why are you making it so difficult to draw perfectly reasonable conclusions about you?Back and forth. Back and forth. By the middle of the book I had no idea who to trust, or what to make of the situation. I was starting to feel like I was looking through a foggy lense at a puzzle that was poorly pieced together, and yet I was so curious and determined to understand WHAT was going on.Author Rachel Roberts crafted a fantastic mystery, without making it seem a mystery at all. I was constantly asking myself questions, sitting back and considering the facts presented, and rolling my eyes at the ignorance of the time.This book was intelligently written and there were no points throughout where I felt there were holes or weak story points. This was a strong, solid work made even more intriguing by the fact that it was based off of true events, true people, true horrors.I actually feel compelled to check out all of the resources Ms. Roberts compiled at the end of the book for curious readers.Ms. Roberts has created something that lures the reader into a fog of knowing some things, but not enough things. So, the reader draws their own conclusions based on personal feelings and even a bit of rambling from "Professional" sources. Consideration isn't made for alternatives until it's much too late to be prepared for the twist.Without giving too much away (because you MUST read this book. RIGHT NOW) I'll say that I was flabbergasted by the way things progressed and the way things ended."The Medea Complex" will definitely find itself featured as one of the "Best Books Read in 2014" and Rachel Roberts is now on the list as one of my Favorite Authors.I wish I could write all about this book. Just type it all out here in the review to prove to you how impressive and incredible this work is. But I don't want to give anything away. I want you to experience it for yourself.This is a book to watch, and an author to keep up with.A very confident 5 quills.