She didn’t realize it at the time, but as a counselor, teacher, and trainer she was learning a lot about human behavior, which she now connects with her dark imagination to create plots and characters. She loves to read and write stories about people who overcome forces that try to control them, probably because she has a bit of an authority problem.īradette flirted with writing fiction for years, creating a rogue short story now and then while trying to make a living. Like most of her characters, Bradette Michel grew up in a small town in the Midwest. For Their Own Good’s characters fight against almost insurmountable odds for the lives they deserve. The heroic actions of Adam and these extraordinary women take place against the backdrop of a society with no room for women who challenge the existing order. McFarland condones the assaults as treatment for her sexual inversion. Adam is most disturbed by the repeated rapes of Angelique, a lesbian. Pearl, a prostitute, begs Adam to bring news of her daughter, who has been abandoned in a local brothel. Jenkins, recovering from a breakdown after the death of her husband, seeks Adam’s help to protect Georgia, a child deserted in the asylum and mistreated by the staff. McFarland, implores Adam to get word of her situation to the outside. Packard, locked up by her pastor husband for her religious beliefs and isolated from her family by Dr. McFarland is tested by the plight of four female patients committed to the asylum as a result their families’ selfish interests. At first I believed him, but it was not long before I learned of unspeakable acts committed on those lost souls.”Īdam’s loyalty to Dr. Our benevolent kindness would lead them to sanity. McFarland told us we were the only ones who could cure the unfortunates under our care. Almost immediately, Adam realizes his observations do not match Superintendent McFarland’s arrogant descriptions of the institution’s innovative treatment practices. Inspired by true events, For Their Own Good begins in 1857 when New York physician, Adam Fletcher leaves his familiar existence in the east to take the position of medical doctor at the Illinois State Hospital for the Insane.
Bradette Michel’s debut novel reveals the murky, often terrifying world of nineteenth century insane asylums.
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