The Cure for Dreaming

Olivia Mead is a headstrong, independent girl -- a suffragette -- in an age that prefers its girls to be docile. It's 1900 in Oregon and Olivia's father, concerned that she's headed for trouble, convinces a stage hypnotist to try to hypnotise the rebellion out of her. But the hypnotist, an intriguing young man named Henri Reverie, gives her a terrible gift instead: She's able to see people's true natures, manifesting as visions of darkness and goodness, while also unable to speak her true thoughts out loud. These supernatural challenges only make Olivia more determined to speak her mind somehow -- and so she's drawn into a dangerous relationship with the hypnotist and his mysterious motives, all while secretly fighting for the rights of women and the women's suffrage movement. Like in In the Shadow of Blackbirds, Winters takes a historical time period and a popular fad (in this case, stage hypnosis) and breathes new life into it with an atmospheric, vividly conceived story.