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The Book of Madness and Cures

2.86 of 5 stars 2.86 · rating details · 933 ratings · 263 reviews

Dr. Gabriella Mondini, a strong-willed, young Venetian woman, has followed her father in the path of medicine. She possesses a singleminded passion for the art of physick, even though, in 1590, the male-dominated establishment is reluctant to accept a woman doctor. So when her father disappears on a mysterious journey, Gabriella's own status in the Venetian medical society...more

Hardcover, 320 pages

Published April 10th 2012 by Little, Brown and Company

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The Book of Madness and Cures
by Regina O'Melveny

Release date: Jun 18, 2013

A brilliant debut about a woman doctor in Renaissance Venice, forced to cross Europe in search of her father.

Gabriella Mondini is a rarity in 16th cen…more

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Dec 01, 2012 Tracey rated it 3 of 5 stars

I received The Book of Madness and Cures through Netgalley for review – thanks to them and the publisher.

I have to say I was disappointed with this book. I didn't really have expectations, per se; I think I've commented before about how odd it is to go into most Kindle books as blindly as I do. I rarely read a book right after acquiring it, so opening it up some time after having read the description that prompted me to buy it (or, in this case, request it), divorced of even the cover image, is...more I received The Book of Madness and Cures through Netgalley for review – thanks to them and the publisher.

I have to say I was disappointed with this book. I didn't really have expectations, per se; I think I've commented before about how odd it is to go into most Kindle books as blindly as I do. I rarely read a book right after acquiring it, so opening it up some time after having read the description that prompted me to buy it (or, in this case, request it), divorced of even the cover image, is a strange feeling. But the The Book's writing held my attention from the beginning; I liked the tone, and the first-person narrator, Gabriella Mondini, and the setting, and the idea:

Gabriella is the daughter of a doctor, and of a temperament and mind to follow him in his profession. However, she lives in 1590 Venice, and a woman doctor is – barely – tolerated only if a man sponsors her. Which is fine, while her father does so; but he left some ten years ago on a journey to – ostensibly – gather medicines from foreign climes along with data for the tremendous Book of Diseases he has spent Gabriella's lifetime compiling. His last letter makes it clear he's not likely to come back, and he orders Gabriella not to send after him – so of course, since she loves him and also since she cannot continue to practice medicine without him, she packs her bags and convinces her servants to come with her to go find him, leaving her fretful mother (think Mrs. Bennet, in a way) all alone without a qualm.

A journey through Renaissance Europe is a great frame for a story. The quest for tales of unfamiliar diseases and cures is also promising. That the journey is undertaken by a woman, accompanied only by an elderly couple, and is also following in her father's footsteps – this was where the disappointment began to set in for me. I continued to enjoy the writing; I continued to like Gabriella; but somehow I wasn't entirely satisfied by the settings, the descriptions of which seemed to be dominated by the religious and climactic temperatures rather than the taste of different food and the smell of foreign scents and the feel of different air.

Also, I admit the Italianization and Renaissancization (I know, I'm tired and making up words now, sorry) of countries' names took some getting used to. So much of the writing felt quite contemporary – especially with things like Gabriella mentioning that something was a meter away (or deep or wide) when the metric system was not (as best I can find) invented for another 150 years or so – that, in the exhausted stressed-out stupor in which I read this, the antiquated names threw me. Yes, it took ages for the lightbulb to go off that the next country the travelers were headed for was Scotland. Yes, I felt stupid when I realized.

Gabriella is an intelligent woman, a tremendous boon to her father's work while she surreptitiously begins her own book, focusing more on women's ailments. She is Different, a creature utterly apart from the ordinary run of women, particularly in the time period. Which is why I felt let down by her. The fact that during two of the stops along the way she falls, to one extent or another, in love with a handy (and of course young and handsome) intellectual – this did not feel like it fit with the rest of her personality. The fate of one of those young men went nowhere; it was a somewhat far-fetched and disturbing incident, and I can't think of a thing it added to the book. The romance Gabriella eventually tumbles into felt almost grafted on, and the disruption it threatened to her search for her father offended me slightly; here she is, on a Mission to find her father, setting out to prove everyone wrong about the womanly stereotypes, and she is about to be thrown completely off her undertaking by a man? Sigh.

Worse, though, for me, is the complete illogic of the search. The idea is that Gabriella and her father wrote to each other fairly regularly over the ten years he's been gone, and now she will try to find him by following the path described in those letters. But does she start with the most recent letter, the warmest scent, the freshest trail? Well, no. She starts at the very beginning and literally follows her father's path from place to place to place.

In a way, this is a great way to tell the tale. As she visits the people her father stayed with and worked with ten years ago, and eight years ago, and so on, as in a few cases she gathers up items he left behind him, it begins to be obvious that he's not well. There's something very, very wrong – and not physically. She sees her father's deterioration as an unfolding story, a puzzle being completed piece by piece and place by place; if she had done the logical thing and started at the end she would have been confronted with the end result and the book would have been a third the length. But I wish her choice of journey had been presented as the logical thing. I wish there had been some reasoning for it: she only knew her father's first location, and only on talking to the people there could she learn his next stop, and the next, and so on to the end. Oh well.

Anecdotes from Gabriella's Book of Diseases are dusted throughout the book, along with samplings of her father's letters and bits of his book – but unless I completely missed the point (always possible) there is no corollary made between them and the journey as far as I could see, and no purpose other than entertainment value. And in fact for me the entertainment value was, while certainly present, somewhat limited by the fact that the tales told were about half an inch away from being fairy tales. These stories – of a woman covered in hair, and another so severely claustrophobic she could no longer live in a house, and of the black tears shed by those prevented from speech for long periods … There are documented medical cases of some version of the first two conditions, at least, but these stories themselves were fantastical, despite the fact that at least some were supposed to be from the direct experience of Gabriella and her father. If there had been more of a magical aura about the rest of the story, I think I would have swallowed the whole thing happily. As it was, the only real unreality of Gabriella's quest was the unlikelihood that a woman and a pair of elderly servants would have as successful a journey as they do (even with the women dressed as men at times). The contrast between the pretty thoroughly mundane of Gabriella's narration and the fantasy of the so-scientific Books just stuck in my throat a little.

The cap to the disappointment was in the ending. No spoilers here, but I felt there was at the same time a too-complete resolution and a complete lack of resolution to the story. It wrapped up too quickly and neatly while still leaving bits and small ends dangling annoyingly. Overall, it felt like a near miss. (less)

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Jan 06, 2013 Kimberly rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical-fiction

My overall opinion of this debut novel is very mixed. On a positive note, the author excelled in historical detail and certainly proved to have done a great deal of research. I thoroughly enjoyed the medical folklore and myths that were scattered throughout the story. A great deal of time could be spent with this book in respect to the representation of women and "madness" during this time period within a patriarchal society. The prose itself was beautiful and often times very elegant. However,...more

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Sep 20, 2012 Maira added it

I always love books about books, strong women, and historical periods, so this book satisfied all those and wasn't a bad read, but wasn't great. Dr. Gabriella Mondini has been taught the healing arts by her father in Venecia of the late 16th century. Her father took off ten years ago to explore diseases in other countries for his book that she had been helping him write. Since she hasn't heard from him for a while, she takes off to look for him with two of her servants. They travel through Germa...more

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Sep 13, 2012 Christine rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-reads

Venice in 1590 was one of the more forward thinking cultures of Europe. Even so, Gabriella Mondini had to hide her ability as a physician because of her gender. Her father taught her the art of physick and she had looked forward to practicing with him. When he decided to go wandering throughout Europe to find more cures for his Book of Physick she was devastated to be left behind with her mother. As his correspondence became more and more sporadic she made the decision to follow his path and fin...more

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Sep 11, 2012 Scarlett Rains rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed, scarlett-s-reviews

I was so excited to finally receive The Book of Madness and Cures in the mail. It was a book I’d requested from the publisher and I was beside myself with excitement when it arrived. I love historical novels and, if you toss in a bit of medicinal lore sprinkled with early treatments for madness, you’ve got this clinician drooling! I couldn’t wait to read about the adventures of Gabriella Mondini: a 16th century Venetian physician determined to practice medicine during the Renaissance, when doing...more

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Jun 25, 2012 Leona Olson rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Historical Fiction, Medicine

The Book of Madness and Cures

The Book of Madness and Cures by Regina O' Melveny
Gabriella Mondini is a doctor in Venice in 1590. She has decided to search for her father, also a doctor who left home 10 years ago to research for his book on maladies (madness). By taking his letters with her, she uses them as her map to find him. Letters from France, the Kingdom of Spain and Scotland are some places from where the letters were sent. The journey begins in Venetia, Venice, and leads the reader north...more

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Jul 23, 2012 Paula rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book was quirky to say the least. It is the story of a female doctor during the Renaissance in Venice who undertakes a very lengthy trip across Europe and N. Africa to try and find her missing father, also a doctor. The father and daughter were writing a book of diseases together but during her trip the daughter writes mostly about very strange mental disorders and their cures(the author doesn't say whether these illnesses were made up by her or actually documented illness from that time)....more

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Sep 29, 2012 Laura rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: cunning-woman, couldn-t-finish

Ugh, this was so disappointing! I thought the premise was interesting, certainly subject matter which I have enjoyed reading in the past. Unfortunately, this was anything but enjoyable. The author's prose was wandering and convoluted, unpleasant to read at best. Gabriela was not interesting or even really likeable. I was curious as to what became of her father, but not enough to keep slogging through this. I made it to Chapter 17 before I couldn't stand torturing myself any longer.

A friend recen...more

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Sep 08, 2012 Sarah Hulcy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

THE BOOK OF MADNESS AND CURES, by Regina O'Melveny

This book is an excellent example of the reason why book lovers read. Because every once in a while we get to read a book this good.

If I didn't know better I'd almost believe Ms. O'Melveny discovered a previously unpublished diary written by a woman in 1500s Venice who trained with her father as a physician. This is the story of her journey to find her father who left Venice to seek more information to include in the book he is writing (with his...more

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May 21, 2012 Liviu rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012_release_read, read_2012, mainstream

I opened this without having no idea what to expect - the blurb sounded interesting, but while years ago, historical fiction at least made some pretense at recreating an era and its sensibilities, in recent times I saw way too many corny books with 21st century sensibilities transposed into historical fiction novels, making such just costume-pron...

However The Book of madness and Cures gets down into the gutters to a large extent and we see some realities of the 1590's (common childbirth deaths,...more

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Jan 09, 2012 Georgette rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: awesome

Gabriella is a woman practicing the forbidden(for a woman, in that time) art of medicine in 16th century Venice. She's been practicing the art under the tutelage and guidance of her dad, a respected physician, for years. She's also been working on a book of diseases and cures with him. However, her father leaves on a sudden, mysterious trip and stays gone for ten years. Finally, Gabriella can take no more, and sets off in pursuit of her missing father. All she's armed with are a cache of old let...more Gabriella is a woman practicing the forbidden(for a woman, in that time) art of medicine in 16th century Venice. She's been practicing the art under the tutelage and guidance of her dad, a respected physician, for years. She's also been working on a book of diseases and cures with him. However, her father leaves on a sudden, mysterious trip and stays gone for ten years. Finally, Gabriella can take no more, and sets off in pursuit of her missing father. All she's armed with are a cache of old letters, her servants Olmina and Lorenzo, and her medicine chest with various poultices and herbs. She travels through nightmare after nightmare, losing Lorenzo and a possible suitor to untimely and tragic deaths, baring the elements, fighting with Olmina about her continuing onward with the journey despite evidence that her father may be gone forever, and her own battle with her health and her doubts over the entire situation. Gabriella goes all over Italy, to the Netherlands, and she finally ends up in Morocco. Olmina, grief-stricken over her husband's passing, goes home to Venice without Gabriella, who forges on alone, despite her health issues, which are quickly solved and forgotten as Gabriella discovers where her father has been and what has happened to keep him away all these years. To have something happen to someone you love, after you've been reading and writing about it in letters that your father had left, well, it just leaves a big hole in your heart for Gabriella, as the story reaches its stunning conclusion. It's not all happy, but Gabriella is a great female lead. You see her doubts, her tears, her strength and determination to not accept hearsay about her father without seeing and knowing for herself what happened, and her sadness over losing people she cares greatly about, in order to find a resolution and closure.
This book is awesome on so many levels, not the least of which is Regina O'Melveny's beautiful use of language. I think the last time I read a book with such beautiful language was Sheri Holman's Dress Lodger, and that was back in 1999. She has a compelling way of drawing you into the story, even when much of the book is correspondence between the silent voice of her absent father and Gabriella. It's not an action-filled story, it's more of an emotional story, written in stunning detail and great emotional depth.
The only thing that I would have a slight question/issue with is- Gabriella's already fragile relationship with her mother(her mother disapproved of the bond between Gabriella and her father, which was built largely on the grounds of practicing medicine together. Basically, in today's lingo, her mom wanted her to be a wife, mother, and obedient housewife/homemaker. Instead of a shrinking violet, she got a vibrant rose). Once she leaves to search for her father, Gabriella's mother basically disowns her, and there's an exchange of letters between the two, and then it gets dropped. When you find out at the end what happened with her father, they never address the mother's reaction, or how her and Gabriella's relationship proceeded after her return to Venice. I think there may have been some further storyline anarchy there that wasn't explored. It seems as if she was just written out of the story completely after Gabriella's last letter to her. I think that was kind of a shame, because there was so much ground that wasn't explored there.
However, that is my only complaint. This book was fantastic, definitely one of my favorites so far in 2012. (less)

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Jan 26, 2012 Teresa rated it 2 of 5 stars

Oh Dear..

I could begin with the positives, however few there are...but that would just put off the inevitable, that is, I really didn't like this book.

Good, glad I got that out of the way. The premise was wonderful, everything was ticking my biblio boxes - the gorgeous cover, the Renaissance setting, a strong female character in a man's world, comparisons with Sarah Dunant and Tracy Chevalier - so where did it all go wrong? Well, the main problem for me was the extremely stilted prose (juxtapose...more

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Apr 23, 2012 Cheryl Dickemper rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: guilty-pleasures

Set in the 16th century, this piece of historical fiction follows a woman in search of her father who has gone missing while on a quest to finish a book of diseases. Trained in medicine by her father, Gabrielle is a strong female character who runs against the prevailing attitudes of the time concerning women and education. When her father's letters become more disjointed, she worries he may have succumbed to one of the illnesses he studies, and she sets out on an unlikely journey to find him. G...more

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Oct 15, 2012 loretta rated it 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book very much but I can see how it is not a book that would appeal to a vast audience. It's setting is 1590 Venice and Gabriella, a doctor in a time when female doctors are not accepted, has just lost her physician's privileges because her father who sponsored her and with whom she practiced has abandoned the family to parts unknown. Unable to practice, she sets out on a pilgrimage to find her father. Although the renaissance has come to Italy, the further north one travels, the...more

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Dec 16, 2012 Ruth rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: history

c2012: FWFTB: Venice, encyclopaedia, retraces, father, quest. I should have loved this book - but I didn't. There were a few idiosyncrasies in the story as a whole that I just couldn't get my head around. I really liked the style of prose and the use of some words but overall, it was a read I could have done without. It was a quick read though and the plot isn't particularly complex. FCN: Gabriella Mondini, (the 'singular, courageous woman' mentioned in the blurb - not sure that I agree with thi...more

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Apr 15, 2012 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc, historical

Gabriella Mondini is an odditiy in 16th-century Venice - she is a doctor. But, now her father has been gone for ten years and the Guild of Physicians will no longer allow her to practice without him serving as her mentor. So Gabriella sets out on a journey to find him, following the only clues she has - a series of letters from all across Europe.

This book was not really what I expected. I suppose I expected more of a mystery - where is Gabriella's father? Why has he been gone so long? Will she f...more

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Jul 21, 2012 Nicki Markus rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is a book I really expected to like, but somehow it just fell a little short of the mark with me.

The idea behind the plot was fascinating and I loved the way the different diseases and 'cures' were woven into the story. The historical detail from that point of view seemed well research, although I am no expert in the area to know if O'Melveny got it right or wrong.

Sadly, I just never fell in love with the characters and I found myself disengaged from the story and generally uninterested in...more

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May 05, 2012 Ethan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Gender equality has always been an important issue. Even with today's increased opportunities, the fact remains that women are not always afforded the same chances that men receive. This longstanding struggle was even more common in the 16th century, where author Regina O'Melveny sets her debut novel.

Dr. Gabriella Mondini is a rarity in Venice. While most women live more common lives, she has been afforded the chance to study medicine with her father, who is a well-respected doctor in is own ri...more Gender equality has always been an important issue. Even with today's increased opportunities, the fact remains that women are not always afforded the same chances that men receive. This longstanding struggle was even more common in the 16th century, where author Regina O'Melveny sets her debut novel.

Dr. Gabriella Mondini is a rarity in Venice. While most women live more common lives, she has been afforded the chance to study medicine with her father, who is a well-respected doctor in is own right. Even though the guild of medicine is comprised entirely of men, her father has always done everything possible to ensure that his daughter becomes the best doctor she can be. When her father leaves the home to research maladies and cures to be published in his massive medical resource, The Book of Diseases, he leaves Gabriella to continue the family's medical practice.

Years later, Gabriella is still home, facing mounting disapproval from the medical guild, while her father continues his mysterious journey, sending letters that leave minimal clues to his activities or whereabouts. When, one day, she receives a letter from her father stating that he plans to continue his research with no intentions of ever returning home, Gabriella, despite her mother's warnings, sets out to find her father and convince him to return.

I have mixed feelings about this novel. Certain aspects worked extremely well. O'Melveny paints an accurate portrait of a young woman's struggle to reach her true potential. Set in the late 1500's the medical details, historical contexts, and character interactions are all fantastic. At times, however, I felt that the language of the novel got in the way of an otherwise intriguing story. The sections meant to portray the entries in the ongoing Book of Diseases seemed to be inserted in the middle of the plot, making the story a bit choppy. Overall, I think fans of historical fiction, mysteries and strong female lead characters will really enjoy this novel. Despite its setbacks, the story is strong enough to make this worth the read.
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Jun 16, 2012 Sue Smith rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-in-2012

Geez I really enjoyed this book. It just flowed so nicely and I really liked how she painted with words. It's such a pleasure to read words and see them in your imagination or feel them and truly understand their experience from that deep down sunken knowledge of what it feels like. It sounds easy to do but what appears to be done effortlessly, usually isn't. And it's such a treat when you find a book that does it. I think my favorite line in the book was when the main character - Gabriella - wa...more Geez I really enjoyed this book. It just flowed so nicely and I really liked how she painted with words. It's such a pleasure to read words and see them in your imagination or feel them and truly understand their experience from that deep down sunken knowledge of what it feels like. It sounds easy to do but what appears to be done effortlessly, usually isn't. And it's such a treat when you find a book that does it. I think my favorite line in the book was when the main character - Gabriella - was watching a huge pod of dolphins come toward the ship she was travelling on and she felt so much unspoken joy while they 'sewed together the sea to the sky'. It's such a perfect metaphor for a dolphin racing alongside a vessel, don't you think?! It's such a visceral vision and speaks to the motion beautifully that it almost took my breath away.

Anyways, enough of my driveling on about such things. I do tend to get carried away ..... especially when I find a book that's filled with such wonderful words!

I liked this story actually. I decided to listen to the audio version of it on my daily commute and was well pleased with that choice. The narrator did a superb job ( not an easy task to be sure) and I'm sure it enhanced my enjoyment. I thought it was an interesting fictional peak at an early time of medicines and cures, specifically those that pertain to the health of the mind. You know it's based on some fact as to what was actually done and tried and you know the story is completely fictional, as are the various medical stories that our heroine and her father have come upon and recorded, but it feels all completely real. The blending of the two are done well and it makes for a wonderful read.

It's a curious look into that fine line of sanity and insanity, genius and madness and facing a family trait of it face to face. The story is a journey, both physically and mentally, as a daughter searches for her father who has left his family on a questionable mission to find some illusive medicines, sending back letters that become more and more scattered and scrambled of thought and place and time. The journey is one of madness in itself, which becomes more and more pronounced as it progresses and makes you as a reader -peaking into this journey as it is made - wonder if the madness will manifest before your eyes.

I won't spoil anything on this one - it's well worth the read! Even if it's just to enjoy the wonderful writing! With a wonderful treat of a great story to boot!(less)

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Dec 13, 2012 Lauren rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Book of Madness and Cures has an average rating of 2.88, and that's probably what you should expect. The novel's cover, title and premise appealed to me, and the first few pages drew me in with an interesting description of one of Gabriela's patients. It is apparent O'Melveny thoroughly researched all of the places her doctor visits and provides the reader with a nice visual tour of 16th century Europe from Italy to Scotland. Yet, it seems she had grand plans that never quite pan out in the...more

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Aug 04, 2012 Bekah rated it 2 of 5 stars

Set the in late 16th century, our protagonist and female doctor Gabriella goes of in search of her errant father. She travels with two longtime servants across Europe and northern Africa. Then NOTHING HAPPENS.

Danger and suspicion of women are hinted at, but are never really close enough to threaten. The prose is so even-tempered, that even when the good Dottor almost drowns in a lake, I didn't realize it until they found her dead horse, who did drown.

The most interesting part of this book was th...more

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Apr 16, 2012 Alexandra rated it 3 of 5 stars

Summary: Set in the late 16th century, this novel is the story of a young woman who has chosen a non-traditional path. Gabriella Mondini learned about medicine from her father and has been keeping up his practice in Venice since he disappeared many years ago. When the medical community in Venice tries to take away Gabriella’s right to practice medicine she sets out to find her father. The journey is arduous and, for the most part, unsuccessful. Along her trip Gabriella adds to her father’s book...more

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Apr 21, 2012 Digna rated it 3 of 5 stars

A unique romp around Europe in the renaissance era.

Delivered in a first person narrative The Book of Madness and Cures is a Renaissance tale of the life of Dr. Gabriella Mondini a women physician living in the 16th century in Italy. Gabriella practices medicine during a time when women holding this title were considered to be witches or sorcerers and when persecution was high. However Gabriella lives in Venice which is a little more advanced in their belief systems. Gabriella decided to leave h...more

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Jul 09, 2012 Jennifer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical, debut, earcs, medical, world, literary

Historical medicine (such as it was) intrigues me, so I was glad to get a chance to read THE BOOK OF MADNESS AND CURES. I was a little worried that it would be pedantic, and it was, a little bit, but the settings and mystery made up for it. Places are described well and made it easy to imagine Europe in the 16th century. There were digressions into treating diseases that made me cringe, since they sound so farfetched to our educated mindset, but the author did her research and I have no doubt th...more

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Jun 01, 2012 Justine Halligan rated it 2 of 5 stars

I wanted to love this book...I really did. Intrigue and drama all set in 16th century Venice - it should have been great. But...I was just plain bored by page 27. I just couldn't find the will to make myself keep reading any further. Sorry.

I think O'Melveny tries to depict how people would have thought, spoken and lived in 15th century Venice but her attempts at this were unconvincing for me. I just didn't believe that the author knew much about this place or time and so it was very hard to fee...more

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Mar 27, 2012 Michelle added it

During a time period where men and women were readily tortured and burned for being witches or having control over mystical forces, would a woman, let alone an unmarried one, really be allowed to openly practice medicine? When decorum and appearances meant everything, would an unmarried woman of status be able to travel by herself across a continent? Ultimately, these are the questions readers must reconcile when approaching The Book of Madness and Cures by Regina O’Melveny, for these questions...more During a time period where men and women were readily tortured and burned for being witches or having control over mystical forces, would a woman, let alone an unmarried one, really be allowed to openly practice medicine? When decorum and appearances meant everything, would an unmarried woman of status be able to travel by herself across a continent? Ultimately, these are the questions readers must reconcile when approaching The Book of Madness and Cures by Regina O’Melveny, for these questions are the main premise behind the story.

The Book of Madness and Cures leaves a lot for the reader to uncover on one’s own, without much in the way of clues or answers. Why does Gabriella wait ten years before searching for her father, when she has been the recipient of slurs and barbs from the Guild long before they announce she can no longer practice medicine? More importantly, why even train Gabriella as a doctor in the first place? Wouldn’t her father put her own safety before his desires to pass along his knowledge? Questions like these remain frustratingly unanswered, even though their answers would go a long way to adding credence to a highly improbable storyline. If the reader could understand better past decisions, then Gabriella herself, as well as her entire journey, becomes slightly more plausible.

The Book of Madness and Cures is really a tale of two stories. On the one hand, it leaves a lot to be desired in the way of realism. One cannot help but admire Gabriella’s tenacity, even while questioning the veracity of her story and her journey. The emotional elements are lacking, making the story-telling uninspiring and the characters flat and insipid. Similarly, the entire novel feels a bit like a fairy tale, with a hapless hero on a quest to uncover the truth and find happiness, complete with its own tidy, and happy, ending.

On the other hand, it is an interesting look at life during the Renaissance and fascinating glimpse of medicine in the 1590s. The discussions of remedies, herbal and otherwise, medical knowledge and supposition, and even descriptions of “diseases” make for mesmerizing reading. Similarly, the minutiae of Gabriella’s trip, when described, offer intriguing hints as to what the world was like during this time. These nuggets of appealing factoids are what keep the reader coming back for more, no matter how far-fetched the story might seem. Unfortunately, The Book of Madness and Cures is enjoyable from the historical aspect but rather unexciting when it comes to the plot and all of the various characters, making for a jagged story that one can only recommend to others with the utmost caution.

Acknowledgements: Thank you to NetGalley and Hachette Book Group for my e-galley!(less)

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Dec 04, 2012 Claire rated it 2 of 5 stars

Really thought I'd found a winner with this one: a trip through Renaissance Europe, with a female doctor as narrator. I was looking forward to a lot of descriptions of different peoples and places, and some interesting medical lore. Instead I got a narrator who is so wrapped up in various handsome men that she meets, and her very clearly crazy and hard-to-love absent father, that she barely finds time to mention that the Black Forest is tree-filled and Holland has canals that freeze in winter. T...more

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May 01, 2012 Candace rated it 3 of 5 stars

I really thought that I was going to like this book. The storyline is fascinating and set in a time period I usually enjoy reading about. However, the author's prose and whole style of writing really put me off. The medical sections were interesting at first, but then it became so annoying reading about these instances that no one in the 21st century would ever believe. I also felt that the author could have researched the cultures mentioned in the book more. Except for one point while in German...more

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May 27, 2012 Rebecca rated it 2 of 5 stars

I'm all for stories about strong female characters striving to follow their vocations in a male-dominated world, but it seems that a genre is developing that uses this sort of scenario as a template for what I will call a "book club book" - that is, a book designed to be bought and read by largely female book clubs, and that plays on the sympathies and idealizations that women hold towards themselves, and that is largely unrealistic about the brutal details of what it really takes to make it in...more

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Jun 02, 2012 Stef rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure, fiction, historical-fiction, medicine

I have to say that I tend to pick up books because they have pretty covers or at least eye catching covers (pretty is debatable, I guess). This is one of those books that delights both the eyes and the mind. Gabriella is headstrong and determined to find the father whom she treasured and who subsequently vanished into his travels 10 years prior. An intelligent woman in Venice, a doctor no less, and constant source of disappointment to her mother, Gabriella sets out to follow the path of her fath...more I have to say that I tend to pick up books because they have pretty covers or at least eye catching covers (pretty is debatable, I guess). This is one of those books that delights both the eyes and the mind. Gabriella is headstrong and determined to find the father whom she treasured and who subsequently vanished into his travels 10 years prior. An intelligent woman in Venice, a doctor no less, and constant source of disappointment to her mother, Gabriella sets out to follow the path of her father's letters learning to love again and to accept the truth she refused to acknowledge.

While I really enjoyed this story and the characters that Regina O'Melveny was able to create, I found the interactions somewhat unbelievable. Setting out in the late 1500s from Venice to: Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, Scotland, and finally Northern Africa (Tangiers) would have been a terribly hard journey for a man, let alone a woman with two servants. Gabriella seems to have an inexhaustible source of money although we know her father has been gone for ten years and the doctor's guild has revoked her permission to practice medicine. In addition, Gabriella mentions her German and English being only passable, yet after a few halting phrases she is able to converse perfectly with anyone in these places. I also found the attitude to her somewhat lenient. Yes, a female would have had somewhat difficult interactions with men because of her gender in the time period in question, but the men Gabriella encounters outside of Venice mostly seem to encourage and admire her intelligence and her medicinal skills when that would probably not have been the case in real life.

My gripes of the book out of the way, I really really loved the little entrances in the Book of Diseases that pepper the book. The little tales are folk stories and folk remedies most likely made up by the author, but this book is a celebration of folk tales and the best folk stories are somewhat made up or altered by the teller. I really felt like I was following Gabriella, Olmina and Lorenzo throughout Europe. The writing style was expressive and very detailed and certainly draws the reader into the story. I can be a sucker for romances, and I think that the love interests in this story are set up to be very sweet, the ending definitely makes you say "aw" even though the themes leave you somewhat bittersweet.

I only gave this book 4 stars even though I really loved it, I think my little gripes prevent me from saying that it was amazing, but I certainly would recommend this book without hesitation.
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About Regina O'Melveny

Regina O'Melveny is a writer, assemblage artist, and teacher. Her poetry and prose have been anthologized and widely published in liteary magazines such as The Jacaranda Review, Yellow Silk, Poetry/LA, The Sun, The LA Weekly, The Pittsburgh Quarterly, and The Wild Duck Review. In 1995 she won first place in the John Foster West National Poetry Award Contest, judged by Marge Piercy. She has been aw...more

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“I've since come to believe that the world is populated by multitudes of women sitting at windows, inseparable from their surroundings. I myself spent many hours at a window on the Zattere, waiting for my father's return, waiting for my life to appear like one of those great ships that came into the harbor, broad sails filled with the wind of providence...I'd grown transparent as the glass through which I peered, dangerously invisible even to myself. It was then I knew I must set my life in motion or I would disappear.” — 3 people liked it

“...it was my father who had taught me to love books for themselves, the smell of the vellum and paper, the rare authority of the pages. "Here, do you see this marvelous book, the skins of 182 sheep," he once pronounced as he slapped his hand down on the stamped leather cover boards. "The book is a flock, a jewel, a cemetery, a lantern, a garden, a piss pot; pigments ground of precious minerals, charred bone, lamp soot, rare plants and insects. Pigments formed at the corrosion of copper plates suspended above urine.” — 1 person liked it

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