The Book of Madness and Cures
Regina O'Melveny
Read by Katherine Kellgren

Hachette Audio
April 10, 2012 / ISBN: 1611136199
Historical Fiction / (Unabridged) / Audio CD / Appx 10 hours, 24 minutes
Amazon

Reviewed by Jo Rogers

The Book of Madness and Cures is set in the year 1590, during the Renaissance. The story of a young Venetian woman, Gabriella Mondini, begins and ends in Italy, though it wanders through Europe and the Middle East in between. Gabriella was a doctor, following in her father's footsteps. However, the doctor's guild only let her practice medicine under the mentoring of her father.

Then, her father left to research his book, The Book of Diseases. After ten years of waiting for her father to return, Gabriella got a letter from him saying he would not be coming back. Shortly afterward, the guild told her she could no longer practice medicine. She packed her things and, against her mother's will, the independent Dr. Gabriella Mondini set out to find her father.

She had little to go on except the places from which the letters had been mailed. She had no idea when he mailed the last letters because he hadn't dated them. She set her itinerary and left, taking her maid and the maid's husband with her. She journeyed through Italy, Scotland, and beyond, sometimes stopping to rest and question anyone who knew her father. Would she ever find him? Was he still alive?

The Book of Madness and Cures is a beautifully written book and a beautiful story. The characters are normal human beings, though they lived in another time. The story gives a lot of insight into the medical practices of the Renaissance era, as well as the struggles women have had to get where they are today. The age of awakening still had a long way to go. Listen to The Book of Madness and Cures and take a journey back in time.