Work

Author Kimberly K. Taylor always has so many ideas jostling for attention in their mind, which leads to some pretty remarkable literary works. Have a look at her debut novel, "Delusional Madness." 

​

Here is a brief summary!

​

When a completely lucid woman is wrongly declared insane by her husband, a doctor, and a judge, and subsequently thrown into a mental institution against her will, the only way Cassie Alexander can escape the horrors of the asylum is to somehow find a way to convince the authorities outside of the institution that she was erroneously admitted and is not a lunatic.

In 1888, Cassie Alexander, a young wife and mother, is declared insane by the town Judge, a doctor, and disturbingly, by her own husband. Living in a small, rural Ohio town during a time when mental illness was completely misunderstood and erroneously diagnosed, Cassie finds herself amid a terrifying, nightmarish reality she can barely even imagine living. One minute she is caring for her five young children and managing the household chores, and the next minute, she is whisked off to the county’s Lunatic Asylum without notice and without a legitimate cause.

Once admitted to Hillview Manor, the county’s newly opened asylum for the mentally ill, Cassie is forced to live with hundreds of other inmates under the cruel and brutal stronghold of Matron Harrow, the asylum’s Assistant to the Superintendent, Dr. Gooding, the asylum’s narcissistic psychiatric doctor, and numerous apathetic and cruel nurses.

During her stay at the asylum, Cassie experiences the horrors of 19th century treatment of the mentally ill, including inhumane punishments, neglect, and abuse. She finds herself thrown haphazardly into institution life and suffers the brutal conditions so many other women suffered in the hands of untrained and incompetent staff.

With the opening of asylums around the country, they became a convenient place for families to dispose of those thought to be insane or who were an embarrassment to the family name; forgotten and completely abandoned, never to be thought of again. Though the asylum began with good intentions, they quickly became overcrowded and poorly managed. The care and treatment originally intended became nonexistent just as quickly.

Cassie, lucid and articulate, realizes that the only way to end the hellish nightmare is to bring awareness to the many atrocities taking place inside the institution, ultimately finding reprieve for those who suffered alongside her. She quickly becomes a protector of those inmates who could not help themselves and she makes it her mission to end their suffering and bring kindness, compassion, and empathy to those most vulnerable.

​