No Women Were Harmed

No Women Were Harmed: Winner of the Daily Mail Prize 2023 | Heather Mottershead

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Lily is transferred to the asylum partway through her prison sentence & is chosen as the first prisoner to speak to the new female psychiatrist as she seems to have shown little of the 'hysteria' she was sent there for. The psychiatrist believes that if Lily tells her her life story, then she can make up her mind about whether to recommend Lily for release.

OutsmartYourShelf As Lily starts to tell her story from the very beginning it seems that she has been dogged by bad luck, but we should remember that there are 3 sides to every story: Lily's, the victims', & the truth!

It seems counterintuitive to describe a book set in a Victorian mental asylum as an entertaining read, but Lily really is a fascinating main character as you're never quite sure at first if she is telling the reader the whole story. 2d

OutsmartYourShelf I did find the character of the psychiatrist rather underused though. Overall it was entertaining, the author really brought the asylum environment to life, & the final chapter was a cracker, but there was just something missing to make it a stand out read. 3.75🌟
(edited) 2d

OutsmartYourShelf My thanks to #NetGalley & publishers, Little, Brown Book Group UK/Sphere, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

Full Review (& TWs): https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7614770127
Read: 20th - 22nd Sept 2025

#ReadAway2025 @Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES
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DieAReader 💖💖💖 2d

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