The Cure for Dreaming
Cat Winters’ The Cure for Dreaming, set in 1900, tells the story of Olivia Mead, a delightful young girl who, on her 17th birthday, attends a show starring the famous hypnotist, Henri Reverie. Much to her surprise, she finds herself onstage with Mr. Reverie, a handsome fellow not much older than herself. He quickly hypnotizes her, showing off to the audience the completeness of her trance by standing on her stiff-as-a-board body. These unfortunate events lead to Dr. Walter Mead, Olivia’s conservative father, hiring Mr. Reverie to hypnotize the rebelliousness out of his wayward daughter. Olivia is wayward because she supports the Suffrage movement, which, just at this moment in history, is becoming more active. However, Dr. Mead will not have a girl with opinions in his own home.
As the story progresses, we learn Dr. Mead lost his wife to the stage when Olivia was only four and he is terrified of losing his daughter to an independent lifestyle as well. Olivia wants to attend college – imagine that! Dr. Mead believes women should be silent and obedient. And, he is not alone in this. During this last lingering influence of the Victorian age, women who disagreed with men were often locked away in lunatic asylums, during which time, doctors tried to secure their ‘wandering wombs,’ a condition believed to cause women to voice opinions.
Though a bit heavy-handed with its message at times, this is a wonderful book filled with humor, compassion and yes, anger. Though the book is labeled YA, the appeal is across the board. Weaving together feminism, hypnosis, bicycles and bloomers, Winters creates a classic story of how a clever young girl can find her own way in the world. Jo March for the 21st century.
