All Program Dates
January 13, 2026 | 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm ET
February 10, 2026 | 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm ET
March 10, 2026 | 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm ET
April 7, 2026 | 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm ET
May 12, 2026 | 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm ET
Registration
Admission for this book club is $30 per session or $128 for the whole series. Members receive exclusive discounts on our programs and courses. Not a member? Learn more.
Please check your spam folder for your email confirmation. If you have questions, please call (215) 732-1600 or email rsvp@rosenbach.org.
This program is for those 18 and older.
Registration opens for Delancey Society members on Friday, September 12, for Rosenbach members on Friday, September 19, and for the general public on Friday, September 26. Registration opens at 12:00 p.m. ET.
Description
Step into the shadows of history with “Mad” Women. Over the course of five months, we will uncover richly imagined stories based on real figures or inspired by historical events—women imprisoned, executed, or exiled under the guise of madness or moral corruption. These aren't just tales of guilt or innocence. They are stories about women whose truths were too complex for the world to bear. Expect rich discussion, challenging themes, and a space to question everything you've been taught about madness and morality.
Meeting 1 — Tuesday, January 13: Walter Scott, The Bride of Lammermoor (1819)
A tragic Gothic romance novel tells the story of Lucy Ashton, a young woman forced into an unhappy marriage against the backdrop of social and political conflict in 18th-century Scotland. The novel explores themes of love, betrayal, family loyalty, and the consequences of societal pressures.
Meeting 2 — Tuesday, February 10: Sara Collins, The Confessions of Frannie Langton (2020)
This historical fiction novel follows the life of Frannie Langton, a young woman born into slavery in Jamaica who is later brought to London as a maid for a wealthy family. Accused of murdering her employers, Frannie recounts her life story as a way to defend herself and reveal the truth behind the murders. The novel explores themes of enslavement, forbidden love, obsession, and the societal constraints placed upon women and people of color in the 19th century.
Meeting 3 — Tuesday, March 10: Margaret Atwood, Alias Grace (1997)
Atwood tells the story of Grace Marks, a young Irish immigrant convicted of murdering her employer and his housekeeper in 19th-century Canada. The novel explores themes of gender, class, and the complexities of memory and truth, as Grace recounts her life to a young doctor investigating her case. Through Grace's narrative, the book examines societal perceptions of women, particularly those in vulnerable positions, and the ambiguity surrounding her guilt or innocence.
Meeting 4 — Tuesday, April 7: Sarah Waters, Fingersmith (2022)
A Victorian-era thriller about two women, Sue Trinder and Maud Lilly, whose lives are intertwined through a plot of theft and deception. Sue, a young woman raised in a household of thieves, becomes a maid to Maud, an heiress, as part of a scheme to steal her fortune. However, Sue and Maud develop unexpected feelings for each other, complicating the original plan and leading to a series of betrayals and revelations.
Meeting 5 — Tuesday, May 12: Victoria Mas, The Mad Women’s Ball (2022)
A historical novel set in 1885 Paris at the Salpêtrière asylum. The story revolves around three women: Geneviève, a senior nurse; Eugénie, a young woman institutionalized for her ability to see spirits; and Louise, a patient who participates in Dr. Charcot's hypnosis demonstrations. The annual Mad Women's Ball, a highlight of Parisian society, serves as a backdrop for their interconnected stories, exploring themes of female agency, societal expectations, and the treatment of women deemed "mad."
Book Purchase
The Rosenbach has partnered with The Head & The Hand (H&H Books) to supply us with book club selections at reasonable prices via their bookshop.org affiliate link. To order a copy, visit the following link and select our nonprofit partner, H&H Books, as the bookstore you’d like to support: https://bookshop.org/lists/the-rosenbach-book-club-mad-women-2026
Learn more about H&H Books here: https://www.theheadandthehand.com
Note that copies of book club selections are not currently available at H&H Books’s physical location.
Facilitators
Dr. Petra Clark is a librarian, educator, and literary historian. She earned her PhD in English from the University of Delaware in 2019 with a specialization in Victorian literature and art, particularly focusing on magazines created by and for women during the late 19th century. Petra has taught college courses on everything from research writing and feminist literature to comics history and monster media, as well as a recent Rosenbach course on the artist Aubrey Beardsley. She currently works in the Special Collections department at the University of Delaware Library, but when she isn’t haunting the rare books stacks, she can usually be found reading creepy fiction with her cats.
Dr. Samantha Nystrom is an avid fan of reading, painting, baking, playing Scrabble, and analyzing stories. She learned how to do such narrative pondering during her time at the University of Delaware, where she received her PhD in English Literature. While at UD, she taught classes ranging from film studies to British Literature to composition, which focused on how identities are constructed and represented. Her class on British Literature, for example, focused on texts with the monstrous other, asking students: Who is the true monster? Her research asked questions about the role gardens and landscapes had in constructing personal, national, and imperial identities within 19th-century Britain; her work on Walter Scott and Gothic landscapes and architecture was published in the peer-reviewed journal, Studies in Romanticism. She currently lives in New Jersey with her vampiric cat, Percy, and is a writer at Jefferson.
Karen Grossman is Library and Museum Educator at the Rosenbach Museum & Library. Karen will lead artifact show-and-tell sessions at select meetings of Ladies of the House of Love to help club members situate book club selections in the context of the Rosenbach’s collections. With a background in classroom teaching and a passion for hands-on learning, she began her career as a science teacher, inspiring curiosity and critical thinking in students of all ages. After several years in education, she transitioned into museum work. When she is not hosting book clubs or leading other Rosenbach programs, she reads fiction and has adventures that would make a Gothic heroine proud.