In the cemetery at Thornwood Asylum, two girls meet when a door between the 19th and 21st centuries miraculously opens.
In 2022, Annie Blake’s world is shattered when her father suffers a psychotic break and ends up in Thornwood Hospital. Annie’s father, an architect and activist, is trying to save Thornwood from developers who want to bulldoze the historic site and deprive the community of a vital mental health resource. Desperate to help her father, Annie struggles to find proof that a famous reformer was once incarcerated there.
In 1856, Mary Donovan and her younger brother are separated when they’re committed to Thornwood Lunatic Asylum. Mary fights to find her brother and escape, but is caught and suffers abusive treatment from staff, until the director of the asylum takes her under his wing. Dr. Jonathan Blackwell plans to groom Mary as his “success story” to help build his reputation in exchange for allowing Mary to see her brother.
When both girls are driven to their breaking points, they flee to Thornwood cemetery where the border between their worlds opens and they encounter each other face to face. Can they find a way to trust and help each other before time runs out?
Praise
“Gripping tale“
Julia Rust and David Surface deliver a gripping tale of courage and connection, where the haunting past of a crumbling asylum intertwines with the present, revealing the indomitable spirit of those who refuse to be forgotten in a system designed to silence them.
—Christopher Barzak, author of Wonders of the Invisible World
“Fascinating and moving”
Saving Thornwood takes on two weighty subjects—the awful history of mental health care institutions in the U.S. and the need for accessible and destigmatizing mental health care today—but the voices of its two main characters make the topic feel lived-in and approachable. Its nineteenth-century narrator, Mary, trapped in Thornwood Asylum, is as fierce as they come, and modern-day Annie, who is navigating her dad’s new mental health diagnosis, is Mary’s match in thoughtfulness and care for those she loves. Watching the two girls interact through their supernatural meetings, as well as through the interplay of history, was fascinating and moving.”
––Erica Waters, author of All That Consumes Us
“A captivating, compelling read”
“Through the eyes of two engaging protagonists centuries apart, Saving Thornwood knits together a twisty historical mystery, time travel paradoxes, and adolescent angst in a poignant tale of sacrifice and courage. It’s a captivating, compelling read.”
––Lynda Rucker, author of Now It’s Dark and The Moon Will Look Strange
“Between gothic and wonder”
Saving Thornwood bridges the gap between gothic and wonder, the supernatural and sanity, heart and horror, casting its own mysterious web that not only tethers the centuries together, but fastens the reader to this spellbinding book. You’ll never want to leave Thornwood once you’re finished reading it.”
––Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Wake Up and Open Your Eyes
“Time travel at its most believable”
Across the centuries, two young women reach out to each other as they attempt to rescue their loved ones confined to a notorious mental institution. This is time travel at its most believable and most entertaining. The story, told in alternating viewpoints, also allows a fascinating look into the stigma of mental illness then and now. It’s a real tribute to the power of young women across different eras to overcome helplessness and not only form their own futures but rescue those they care about.”
––Mary Carroll Moore, best-selling and award-winning author of Last Bets and A Woman’s Guide to Search & Rescue
“A vintage, moody, dual narrative”
Atmospheric to the nines, gritty, gothic, and compelling, this YA tale of mental health stigma and friendship boasts two lead heroines who give Saving Thornwood its driving heartbeat. Julia Rust and David Surface create a vintage, moody, dual narrative across time that will appeal to modern teen readers. Highly recommend!
––Gaby Triana, author of Moon Child, Wake the Hollow, and River of Bones