THE CURE FOR
DREAMING
Cat Winters
source: netgalley
pub date: Oct 14th 2014
♠.♠.♠.♠.♠
I'm a bit in love with this book. The Cure for Dreaming is the story of Olivia Mead, a strong-willed woman in the age of the suffragette movement who lives with her very strongly anti-suffragette father. Olivia meets and becomes friends with a young hypnotist, Henri, and their lives are twisted together when Olivia's father hires him to suppress the desire for suffrage within her through hypnotism.
This is not my first five star rating for a Cat Winters book, and it's probably the galley that I have so far been most excited to be approved for. Cat Winters has a gift for twisting together the historical and the magical and creating a bright, vivid world that is accentuated by the pictures that she gathers for inclusion in each book. The Cure for Dreaming is full of images of women fighting for their rights, the fears of a changing world, and the desires for something otherworldly, both through the images and the words that Cat has woven together.
As a feminist reading this book it was very, very easy to become angry with those characters who were against the suffragette movement, but it was also quite easy to see their reasoning. Not agree with them, but understand them to a certain extent. I love the way that Cat writes her characters, even the minor ones have life to them, they're not just shallowly drawn archetypes. Olivia is a relatable heroine, Henri is a desirable love interest, and every character who wears the role of the villain at one point or another is genuine in their presentation.
This is definitely one of my favourite books of 2014, and I am very eager to see what Cat does next.
This sounds awesome! I love an us verses them type read and the characters all sound so incredibly well developed. So unique too, I love reading about strong females in young adult, we desperately need more of them. So glad you really enjoyed this one Elspeth, going to check it out as well.
ReplyDeleteI love the sound of historical fiction with magical elements as well - so I'm definitely hoping to read this one soon! The suffragette movement is a particularly interesting one in history and it's great to hear that this book showcases female protagonists in a good light. I have In The Shadow of Blackbirds to read as well, hopefully I enjoy that too. Thanks for the lovely review Elspeth :)
ReplyDeleteEugenia @ Genie In A Book