Going Widdershins

Set in the year 1958, Going Widdershins is the bittersweet tale of mystery, love, yearning and transformation. When Emilena Lamb, having no prior history of medical or mental problems, arrives at a psychiatric hospital in a catatonic stupor, her condition defies diagnosis. What catastrophe could have provoked this sudden crisis? And how can it be treated when its cause remains unknown? Tith this opening gambit, Sherrye Cohn hooks the reader and then chases its resolution by going backward in time, allowing us to see Emilena through the eyes of those who knew her before that fateful day. When she does not improve during her first month in hospital, she is transferred to Summerland, a residential facility for female hysterics run by the sexy, older and eccentric May Manley. Here the law of gravity does not apply, as May employs such unorthodox therapies as lunar observation, sacred drumming, herbal elixirs and skipping, said to be "better than any anti-depressant." Problems arise when the in-house psychiatrist, despite being attracted to May, ridicules her therapies as "voodoo" and the visiting chaplain scorns the nature religion on which they are based. As time goes by, Summerland works its magic in unexpected ways, touching the lives of all those who come under its spell. A delightful and thought-provoking read, Going Widdershins spotlights one of life's big questions: Who are we really and how do we become who we really are?