About the Book
Book: The Gray Chamber
Author: Grace Hitchcock
Genre: Christian Historical / Suspense
Release Date: January, 2020
Will Edyth prove her sanity before it is too late?
Step into True Colors—a new series of Historical Stories of Romance and American Crime
On Blackwell’s Island, New York, a hospital was built to keep its patients from ever leaving.
With her late parents’ fortune under her uncle’s care until her
twenty-fifth birthday in the year 1887, Edyth Foster does not feel
pressured to marry or to bow to society’s demands. She freely indulges
in eccentric hobbies like fencing and riding her velocipede in her
cycling costume about the city for all to see. Finding a loophole in the
will, though, her uncle whisks Edyth off to the women’s lunatic asylum
just weeks before her birthday. And Edyth fears she will never be found.
At the asylum she meets another inmate, who upon discovering Edyth’s
plight, confesses that she is Nellie Bly, an undercover journalist for
The World. Will either woman find a way to leave the terrifying island and reclaim her true self?
Click
here to get your copy!
About the Author
Grace Hitchcock is the author of three novellas in
The Second Chance Brides,
The Southern Belle Brides, and the
Thimbles and Threads collections with Barbour Publishing.
The White City is
her debut novel and releases March 2019 with Barbour Publishing. She
holds a Masters in Creative Writing and a Bachelor of Arts in English
with a minor in History. Grace lives in southern Louisiana with her
husband, Dakota, and son. Visit Grace online at
GraceHitchcock.com.
More from Grace
I am thrilled to share with you my second novel in the True Colors series,
The Gray Chamber,
which is set in New York City in 1887. I loved writing about Edyth
Foster, our cat-rescuing, spunky heroine who spends her days painting,
fencing with her dreamy instructor, and avoiding society at all costs,
which as you can imagine, comes back to haunt her before the end. I’ve
never written about a character who despised reading, so that was a new
one for me. Edyth just doesn’t like to sit still long enough to finish a
book, but you’ll find out why later.
I am pretty certain the librarians at my local branch are wondering
what in the world my hobbies are, judging from the stacks of fencing
books for beginners, histories of New York crime in the 19
th century, and Nellie Bly’s
Ten Days in a Mad-House, and more that I have continuously checked out since moving back to Louisiana.
The inspiration for this book came from Nellie Bly’s scandalous exposé for Joseph Pulitzer’s newspaper,
The World. In
reading Nellie’s articles, I was shocked at the grounds by which the
asylum would commit women and that’s when I discovered a tiny mention
about an heiress with family members who had her tucked away so they
could have her fortune. . .and Edyth Foster was born.
I hope you will enjoy reading about our eccentric leading lady and
her fencing master hero, Raoul “Bane” Banebridge. If you are interested
in seeing pictures of the asylum and to see what I pictured the
characters looking like, check out my Pinterest board
here.
Thank you for joining the fun for the Celebrate Lit tour! Join
my author newsletter for more bookish news and to find out what is coming next! Just enter your e-mail address and name
here. Happy Reading!
“With beautiful description and shiver-worthy scenes, Grace Hitchcock
has penned an incredible fiction story based on true history.
The Gray Chamber was
a fascinating and chilling read. Edyth’s story had me glued to the
pages. But as I journeyed with the heiress and her eccentricities, the
greed of her family which saw her locked up in an asylum against her
will made me grateful for the freedoms I have today. And made me pray
that my voice would never be silenced. The nightmare was brought to life
so vividly that I found myself holding my breath and then cheering on
Bane as he never gave up on Edyth. This is a story that will stick with
me for a long time…”
~Kimberley Woodhouse – Carol-Award winning and Best-Selling Author of more than twenty books, including:
MissTaken Identity, The Express Bride, The Golden Bride, The Patriot Bride, and
The Mayflower Bride.
Blog Stops
A Reader’s Brain, January 20
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, January 20
Texas Book-aholic, January 20
Emily Yager, January 21
All-of-a-kind Mom, January 21
Older & Smarter?, January 21
Bigreadersite, January 22
Inklings and notions, January 22
For Him and My Family, January 22
Genesis 5020, January 23
deb’s Book Review, January 23
Blogging with Carol, January 23
Christian Bookaholic, January 24
KarenSueHadley , January 24
Mary Hake, January 24
For the Love of Literature, January 25
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, January 25
Godly Book Reviews, January 26
Stephanie’s Life of Determination, January 26
The Becca Files, January 26
Through the Fire Blogs, January 27
Daysong Reflections, January 27
Back Porch Reads, January 28
Robin’s Nest, January 28
Connie’s History Classroom, January 28
Betti Mace, January 29
Rebecca Tews, January 29
Vicky Sluiter, January 29
By The Book, January 30
Hallie Reads, January 30
Book Bites, Bee Stings, & Butterfly Kisses, January 30
Blossoms and Blessings, January 31
A Baker’s Perspective, January 31
Remembrancy, February 1
To Everything There Is A Season, February 1
With a Joyful Noise, February 1
Locks, Hooks and Books, February 2
Pause for Tales , February 2
Giveaway
To celebrate her tour, Grace is giving
away the grand prize package of a $25 Amazon gift card and a free copy
of The Gray Chamber!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.
My Thoughts
I love books based upon true events. I loved the history behind this story. I find asylum settings to be rather fascinating and of course these places were not well controlled/monitored for a lot of our past history. Reading about Nellie Bly and getting to be in that world for a few pages was fun and a bit disturbing. Edyth Foster's character I didn't love. I thought it was a unique point of view but the character didn't thrill me. I liked the historical aspect and bits and pieces of the chapters I enjoyed. Overall this wasn't my favorite book but it did make me look into a bit more of that time period and women's asylums.
Three Stars.
"I received this book from the publisher for free. All opinions are my own and I was not required to write a positive review."
