[Victoria Mas’s]… portrait of women who were unfairly banished to asylums often because they did not fit into the straightjacket of 19th-century society is moving… beautifully drawn. ― THE TIMES

THE MAD WOMEN’S BALL is a darkly sumptuous tale of wicked spectacle, wild injustice and the insuppressible strength of women. Mas brings the world of La Salpêtrière to life with passion and fury, unveiling a hypnotic theatre that is as moving as it is macabre. ― Emma Stonex, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Lamplighters

[An] essential story of women resisting the unjust exertion of male power. ― SUNDAY TIMES

In this darkly delightful Gothic treasure, Mas explores grief, trauma and sisterhood behind the walls of Paris’ infamous Salpetriere hospital. ― PAULA HAWKINS, Sunday Times bestselling author of A SLOW FIRE BURNING and THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN

Elegantly written, Victoria Mas’s slender, potent debut celebrates sisterhood, while also exposing the corrupt powers of the patriarchy at home and in the wider world. ― DAILY MAIL

Enthralling and wonderfully imagined… written with terrific verve and sympathy. ― LITERARY REVIEW

A deftly woven tale of hope and pain, judgement and redemption, cruelty and kindness. Utterly captivating and profoundly affecting, the story of The Salpêtrière lingers long in the mind after the stunning conclusion. I loved it. ― Miranda Dickinson

A beautifully written debut set in Paris in 1885, Victoria Mas’ characters come to life within a sentence while her storytelling compels you to turn the page. I loved The Mad Women’s Ball and have absolutely no doubt it will be one of my favourite novels of 2021. ― AJ PEARCE, author of DEAR MRS BIRD

The Mad Women’s Ball is as lush on the inside as it is on the outside! It’s richly immersive, taking us right into the heart of nineteenth-century Paris. From Genevieve, Eugenie and the women of Salpêtrière we learn what it is that keeps women locked up – and the extraordinary ways in which they might escape. ― Shelley Harris, author of Jubilee

‘Enter the dance of this little masterpiece and let yourself be dazzled. Assured of hitting the bestseller lists’

― THE PARISIAN

A well-written historical novel… book groups will thoroughly engage with the plot and characters. ― NB Magazine

Victoria Mas is thirty-two. The Mad Women’s Ball, her first novel, has won several prizes in France (including the Prix Stanislas and Prix Renaudot des Lycéens) and been hailed as the bestselling debut of the season. She has worked in film in the United States, where she lived for eight years. She graduated from the Sorbonne University in Contemporary Literature.