The Lobotomist's Wife: A Novel

Written by Samantha Greene Woodruff

Narrated by Cassandra Campbell

An enthralling historical novel of a compassionate and relentless woman, a cutting-edge breakthrough in psychiatry, and a nightmare in the making.

Since her brother took his life after WWI, Ruth Emeraldine has had one goal: to help those suffering from mental illness. Then she falls in love with charismatic Robert Apter—a brilliant doctor championing a radical new treatment, the lobotomy. Ruth believes in it as a miracle treatment and in Robert as its genius pioneer. But as her husband spirals into deluded megalomania, Ruth can’t ignore her growing suspicions. Robert is operating on patients recklessly, often with horrific results. And a vulnerable young mother, Margaret Baxter, is poised to be his next victim.

Margaret can barely get out of bed, let alone care for her infant. When Dr. Apter diagnoses her with the baby blues and proposes a lobotomy, she believes the procedure is her only hope. Only Ruth can save her—and scores of others—from the harrowing consequences of Robert’s ambitions.

Inspired by a shocking chapter in medical history, The Lobotomist’s Wife is a galvanizing novel of a woman fighting against the most grievous odds, of ego, and of the best intentions gone horribly awry.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brilliance Audio
• Release date: Feb 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781713638162

Samantha Greene Woodruff

Samantha Greene Woodruff has a BA in history from Wesleyan University and an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business. She spent most of her career telling stories to executives at MTV Networks as the senior vice president of strategy and business development and, subsequently, audience research for the Nickelodeon Kids & Family Group. After leaving corporate life, she pursued her varied passions, teaching yoga, cooking, and taking classes at the Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College. It was here that she combined her multifaceted background with her wild imagination and passion for history, reading, and writing. The Lobotomist’s Wife is her first historical fiction novel, and she is already at work on her next book. Sam lives in southern Connecticut with her husband, two children, and two dogs.

Reviews for The Lobotomist's Wife

[thepageladies · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Samantha Greene has delivered a gripping suspenseful thriller! It really is shocking just knowing the kinds of things that went on back then but to actually read about it makes it even more shocking! But having Could you imagine being in a position thinking you are saving peoples lives only to realize that you have been doing the opposite? Would you be able to stand up and say something? We don’t live in that era anymore but I would hope that I would be able to! I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough! From the first to the last page I was hooked!

[Mona Albright · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved the way the story unravels. It was nice seeing Ruth’s character grow and when she realized that lobotomies weren’t working for people, she did everything in her power to stop her husband, despite it ruining her career that she built.

[rmarcin-630843 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In the early 1930s, Ruth Emeraldine is working at NY Hospital for the Insane, now Emeraldine after her father made a large endowment. Ruth has devoted her life to helping the patients, after her brother, Harry succumbed to his mental illness. When she meets Dr. Robert Apter, she is intrigued, and she believes that he shares her philosophy to help the mentally ill via new procedures. Apter "perfects" the lobotomy. He performs hundreds of them. Meanwhile, Margaret, suffering from postpartum depression seeks his help. But Ruth becomes suspect of the success of lobotomies. Is she too late to save Margaret, her marriage, the hospital? This is the story of a person's drive to succeed at any cost, contrasted with the compassion and patience of others. Interesting, but I felt that at times, the book was too bogged down with some things and didn't go deeply enough into other. Just OK.

[maret5g · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Book with interesting topic of lobotomy, a treatment performed on patients with mental health conditions. Ruth Apter understands the crisis of mental health problems. Her brother lost his life fighting depression after his return from war. Now she can help patients in her hospital where together with her husband, they are determined to find a cure for insanity. Robert Apter, a successful doctor, spends every moment on new treatment he calls the miracle cure. He is proud of his success and the number of lobotomies he can perform in a short amount of time. Until it all goes wrong. The statistics at the hospital show concerns and Ruth will do everything to make it right.The topic of lobotomy may be very disturbing especially the way it was performed at that time. I didn’t know what to expect from this book. It made me angry when patients, who were so hopeful, got even worse after this reckless procedure of the doctor whose success was more important than patient’s well being. But on the bright site, I loved and admired Ruth, who put her heart to make a difference in those people’s lives. I really liked this book and I’m glad I finally decided to read it. It surprises me that it’s a debut novel. It’s interesting, grabbing reader’s attention, provoking and emotional. You’ll like it.

[susan0316 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I first learned about lobotomy in a college psych class and what little I knew was expanded by the movie One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. So my understanding of the why's and how's was limited but I learned all I needed to know in this book. Developed in 1935, it was the primary method of help for psychiatric patients until it fell out of favor in the early 50's due to the side effects of the procedure but was still being done on a limited basis until the late 60s.Ruth, a daughter of wealth and privilege had one major goal in her life. After losing her brother to suicide, she wanted to do whatever was possible to help people suffering from mental illness. She worked at a psychiatric hospital that her father had built and was very kind and caring to the patients. But she knew in her heart that there must be some way to make them better able to handle life. She was interviewing doctors to work at the hospital and was impressed with Robert Apter. He was a brilliant doctor who believed that he had developed a new procedure to help mentally ill patients. The world believed his procedure was a miracle and it was performed all over the world. Robert perfected it to the point that he would use an ice pick and go into a person's brain to sever part of it. He was proud of the fact that he could do so many procedures in the same day. It's estimated that more than 50,000 lobotomies were performed in the United States, most between 1949 and 1952. Robert was so proud of his procedure that he traveled all over the country training other doctors and performing many procedures himself - some not even in hospital settings but using his office space. Ruth was so impressed with Robert that they got married but as Ruth began to learn about the side effects of the procedure, she realized that it wasn't the perfect procedure that her husband had been lecturing about and many of the side effects made the people mentally worse than they had been before they had it. Ruth had to decide whether to stay true to her marriage or report the real results to the proper medical authorities and hopefully put a stop to lobotomies.The author did considerable research in this, her debut novel, and the information that she presented was accurate based on reading that I've done since I read this book. She says in the afterword that most of her characters, except for Ruth were based on real people and their medical procedures. With all of the medical information, this book could have been very boring and filled with medical jargon. I found it just the opposite. Because I was invested in Ruth and her attitude toward the mentally ill, I found it to be a very interesting and readable story.

[bookscookslooks · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Lobotomist’s Wife is historical fiction of a totally different kind than I usually read and in this case it was good. The book is not always easy to get through – after all they are discussing a truly barbaric procedure, but like many medical options presented to people who were desperate to “cure” their family members, something was better than nothing.Issues of anxiety, post partum depression, schizophrenia and more were not understood at the time and the families of people suffering from these conditions did not know what to do to help. When presented with an option….they took it not knowing the full ramifications.The book takes you through the journey on the side of the people who were working to try and “cure” the patients in a home for people with all manner of problems. I am not one to differentiate between mental diagnoses but just reading about the treatments for these poor souls was harrowing.The book was not all medical treatments. There is also a story of people committed to trying to help the ones in their care. With a bit of hubris along for the ride as the promotion of the lobotomy as a cure all does start to rule.What you have in this novel is a riveting read about a period in medical history that is truly regrettable. It is brought to life through the characters based around the real man who performed so many lobotomies on patients. It was really hard to put down.

[bumblybee-190414 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This was my Amazon First Reads choice for January 2022.1.5/5 starsI was so excited to read this book, as lobotomies and the history behind them has always been morbidly fascinating to me. Unfortunately, I found that the execution of this story didn't live up to the hype I'd built in my head.The writing is incredibly predictable, and not in the way that feels like a favorite sweater on a cold day. The characters are archetypes we've seen before; none of their dialogue sounds the way people would actually speak, and paired with the plot you'll see coming a mile away, everything just falls flat. Even the descriptions seem contrived and forced - I was concerned from the very beginning with the clunky way the author handled the physical appearance of the female characters.I've given this an extra half-star because the history was clearly well-researched, and I was intrigued enough to continue reading, if only in the hopes that maybe things wouldn't turn out the way they did. I would not recommend this book to those already familiar with the story behind lobotomies, nor to those looking for new and exciting historical fiction.

[scottjpearson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

For a period of time, lobotomy was the go-to treatment for psychiatry. It involved disabling the frontal lobes of the brain with the hopes of averting psychiatric symptoms. If “disabling the frontal lobes of the brain” sounds scary to you, it is to me, too. Over time, bad outcomes were chronicled, and lobotomy was eventually relegated to the historical record (much like other equally scary psychological treatments). However, in this book, Greene Woodruff brings frighteningly real history to life – entertaining and educating along the way.The main character Dr. Robert Apter is loosely based on the historical figure of Walter Freeman II. Robert pioneered this treatment which first seemed markedly helpful to patients. His wife Ruth bonded with him over hope for this treatment. However, over time, Robert’s ambition seemed to overtake him, and both Robert and Ruth became blinded to harmful effects. In this novel, these tensions resolve in an intriguing manner.Obviously, this book deals with the topic of medical and psychological ethics. It is staged in the early twentieth century, before the development of psychiatric drugs. (Of course, over-medicating patients might be seen as a new lobotomy, too.) Dealing with psychological pain is and will remain a central part of the human experience; Greene Woodruff shows us that it should be dealt with through empathy, not ambition. The author, herself a daughter of two therapists, brings this character trait and motif to life in an all-too-real narrative.Those involved in psychological and psychiatric care – whether clinicians or patients – can benefit from thinking through Greene Woodruff’s storytelling. For some reason, stigma around mental health remains a part of modern society, and seeing the historical record frankly might demystify some of these concepts. Further, it can remind all those involved in healthcare that critical reflection over the “good” done by one’s work is always needed. Ambition should never triumph over empathy and reason. I’m grateful that this theme engaged my mind as I engaged with this suspenseful and interesting book.