The woman they could not silence One woman, her incredible fight for freedom, and the men who tried to make her disappear

While the Civil War erupted, housewife and mother of six, Elizabeth Packard, was detained at the Jacksonville Insane Asylum in Illinois. For three long years, she was separated from her children and subjected to heinous conditions. Her crime? Daring to have an opinion in opposition to her husband's narrow-minded beliefs. She was not alone. At that time, women were labeled hysterical and locked up for something as simple as the unfeminine habit of "novel reading." Married women were particularly vulnerable as their legal rights were nonexistent. Packard did not go down quietly. She appealed her case to anyone who would listen and covertly documented the appalling abuse she witnessed while institutionalized. The more her oppressors attempted to silence her, the harder she fought. She became a champion for women's rights and mental health reform. Moore's (The Radium Girls, 2017) expert research and impassioned storytelling combine to create an absolutely unputdownable account of Packard's harrowing experience. Readers will be shocked, horrified, and inspired. A veritable tour de force about how far women's rights have come and how far we still have to go.

Bestseller Moore (The Radium Girls) delivers a riveting chronicle of Elizabeth Packard's (1816--1897) forced commitment to an Illinois insane asylum and advocacy for women's equality and the rights of psychiatric patients. Skillfully drawing on Packard's voluminous writings, Moore describes her subject's "cheerless" marriage to Presbyterian preacher Theophilus Packard, and the couple's growing estrangement as Elizabeth, inspired by the nascent women's rights movement, began to publicly question his theological beliefs. Angered by his wife's "impassioned eloquence," Theophilus took advantage of an Illinois law that allowed husbands to have their wives committed without trial. Moore recounts Elizabeth's shock at discovering that the Jacksonville Insane Asylum "was a storage unit for unsatisfactory wives," details abuses by hospital attendants and superintendent Andrew McFarland, and delves into the legal and social framework that rendered married women "utterly defenseless." After thwarting Theophilus's plans to have her permanently committed, Elizabeth led successful campaigns to overturn coverture laws that denied rights to married women and reform asylums across the country. Moore packs in plenty of drama without sacrificing historical fidelity, and paints Elizabeth's fierce intelligence and unflagging ambition with vibrant brushstrokes. Readers will be thrilled to discover this undersung early feminist hero. Agent: Simon Lipskar, Writers House. (June)

Moore (The Radium Girls) delivers an absolutely fantastic narration of her biography of Elizabeth Packard, a 19th-century reformer who deserves to be a household name. In 1860, Packard and her minister husband Theophilus were living with their six children in Illinois when Theophilus had his wife committed to an asylum because her liberal religious and social views clashed with his conservative ones. At the time, male family members, especially husbands, had almost unlimited power to have their female relatives institutionalized for presumed insanity. After being a dutiful wife and mother for more than two decades, Packard was taken to an asylum over 200 miles away from her home and her beloved children, just for disagreeing with her husband. She endured three years of barbaric treatments and horrific living conditions in the asylum before she secured her freedom and dedicated her life to helping "her sisters" by achieving significant legislative wins that strengthened the rights of married women and asylum patients. Moore heavily quotes passages from primary sources like trial transcripts, government reports, and personal letters, but the riveting narrative still flows smoothly--a testament to Moore's skill as an author and a narrator. VERDICT This brilliant story of one woman's amazing perseverance is guaranteed to inspire all those who continue Packard's fight for social reform and true gender equality.--Beth Farrell, Cleveland State Univ. Law Lib.

The author of The Radium Girls returns with an inspiring story of the tireless 19th-century woman who fought against gender-based injustices. The titular woman is Elizabeth Packard (1816-1897), an Illinois mother of six who took on the legal system after she was involuntarily committed to the Jacksonville Insane Asylum in 1860 by her husband's request. Elizabeth and her husband, Theophilus, 15 years her senior, initially appeared to have a typical marriage for a mid-19th-century American couple. That all changed as Theophilus, a minister, increasingly saw his wife's outspoken support of women's rights as a threat. As Moore demonstrates, while he had "long been in the habit of trying to control" his wife, Theophilus became more concerned when she began to offer more liberal opinions on theology, abolition, and the role of women to parishioners at his church. That led to an ominous threat from husband to wife: "I shall put you into the asylum!" Moore details Elizabeth's three-year involuntary confinement and the sexist system that allowed husbands to have their wives declared insane without a diagnosis or legal hearing. Despite inhumane conditions, Elizabeth was determined to be declared sane and to become an advocate for women and the mentally ill through her own writings and advocacy. The trial in which she fought to be declared mentally fit was a media sensation, and though she prevailed, "she was now homeless. Penniless. Childless. All she had to her name were the clothes she stood up in and a manuscript she'd been repeatedly told would never see the light of day." Drawing on sources like letters, memoirs, and trial transcripts, Moore's well-researched book paints a clear picture of the obstacles Elizabeth faced both during and after her confinement and the cruel resoluteness of both her husband and doctor, who tried to control her at all costs. A vivid look at the life and times of a little-known pioneer of women's rights. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.