The Key: The most gripping, heartbreaking novel of World War Two historical fiction from the global bestselling author of The Memory Box

The author has created an emotional and heartbreaking read about the lives lost and destroyed after being incarcerated in an asylum back in 1956 based on real-life experiences that she discovered in her research. These asylums were known as lunatic asylums. A sad term to be used for some troubled souls.The story is told through two timelines, one in 1956 and the other fifty years later of two women and how their lives intertwined. One woman was a patient while the other was a nurse who cared for this woman and many of the other patients. The nurse tells her story through her eyes of what she witnessed and how unfair and cruel the treatment was of these people.The second timeline is told by a woman who is a historical writer who is intrigued by this derelict building that was once an asylum for the insane. Her father once worked there but never spoke about it and refuses to share what he knows with his daughter, Sarah. Sarah vows to find out more about this place and why her father is so obstinate and disturbed when she asks him about it.What Sarah finds is not what she expected and is horrified as more information is uncovered about this place. She is forced to confront her father for more about what he knows and he finally shares his story with her when some surprising developments are discovered that he cannot ignore any longer.The author has created a story rich in full-bodied characters who will tear your heart out from the young boy Sarah finds hiding out in the abandoned building while she is searching for clues to uncover the mysteries of this place to the many patients we get to know in the past through the timeline of the nurse.This is an unforgettable read that will break your heart and leave you in tears and unable to understand why all these people had to suffer unnecessarily and for so long. Kudos to this amazing author who writes from her heart such wonderful stories.

I was captivated by this book much more than I expected to be. Very well researched. I have a cursory knowledge of the cruel and heartbreaking conditions of early lunatic asylums, as they were called. It’s hard for me to dig deep because of the unjust treatment and conditions. This book was well researched and presents a clear picture of what life might have been like. Tears came to my eyes more than once. Definitely worth your time and attention.

I almost gave this book only 4 Stars, but only because I found it difficult to read. However, I could not blame the book entirely, so I will give it all 5 Stars! Why was it difficult? IDK for certain. I think it is partly because it began with certain people in a certain time, then just changed! The protagonists began as Sarah, Nathan, & Sarah's dad. Then suddenly Ellen & the Sister were up front & Sarah & the rest were just gone! It made my brain spin! At almost the same time Amy & Dr. Lambourn took front & center! I simply couldn't keep up! At this point, however, the scene switching became much more in synch, & much easier to keep up with! I began to enjoy the crossover relationships between Ellen & her new fellow nursing student, Dougie, & Amy & both the female & the male inmates, h also the jaded staff. These relationships were both positive & negative, but made the story real! Another reason this was so difficult to read is the setting in which the majority of the story is told. I knew these places were horrible, but I guess I had never realized just HOW horrible! It seems impossible that love could find a toe hold in that place, but it did! More than once! I have no words that will do justice to this book, so I simply will recommend that you read it for yourself & see & feel what I am incapable of putting into words!

Loved this story and how it all connected together at the end. Would recommend to any reader with a handicapped child.

Although the novel is historical fiction, the idea that there may be an element of truth to the atrocities and horrors that occurred with Amy and her counterparts, as well as the maltreatment of inhumane staff gave me chills. Kathryn Hughes provides an outstanding narrative, as well as a very sobering account of these atrocities. The good news is that it isn't all gloom and doom. Ellen, Dougie, Jean, and Sarah are the shining stars in the darkness. Kathryn Hughes has a magical way of pulling the characters together past and present and weaving a really good story. I initially wanted the story to "move faster" with Amy's history and cringed at the horrific stuff - but discovered it was all pertinent to the end game.

This book is a page turner, hard to stop reading, finished it in 2 days,Would highly recommend

I'd loved it

Je viens de finir le livre et OMG...!!! Les personnages, l'histoire, l'ambiance... tout me manque déjà... quelle merveille!!!!Impossible de lâcher ce livre... Aux chaceux qui ne l'ont pas encore lu ou à ceux qui vienne de le commencer... PROFITEZ !!!!

Splendid !! A well-deserved hat-trick of 5* from me. Every one of her books so far has been so good.....I really enjoy them a great deal. Once again, it's an emotional read as we've come to expect from her and it's so gratifying to have an author you can trust, one who gets it right across the board. It matters a lot to me that a book is perfectly presented as well as a terrific story. I get so worn down reading so many books (both paid-for and free downloads) that are so horribly presented, full of spelling and grammatical mistakes. Then we get a book like this one and we're shown it CAN be done, there's not one error, so what excuses do other authors have ?I always enjoy stories set in dual timelines and sit there trying to figure out who might be related to who in each era, though I am usually way off track. There were some real surprises in this one.For me, this is quite reminiscent of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. I enjoyed the patients' stories more than anything and they satisfied my innate nosiness as well. Some incidents were very funny and then another person's story would be just devastatingly sad. My favourite characters were Amy in the one era and Nathan in the other.I had never heard of the pre-printed wartime postcards before so looked them up and found they're called Field Service Postcards.....fascinating. I did have a chuckle at a nurse heading off to get a newborn baby some Carnation Milk of all things then I also looked up the "water tower" speech. It's shocking that all those asylums were closed and just left empty. And let's face it, care-in-the-community hasn't been a sterling success. I think they should've kept them. It was certainly thought-provoking but very, very enjoyable and educational at the same time !! And thanks so much, Mrs Hughes, for having pride in your work because it does make a massive difference.

My mother was in a home for unmarried mothers when she had me. She hardly ever spoke about her experience but I had the impression that she was well cared for. She was lucky. In this book the events may be exaggerated in some respects, but if just some of these things happened to the poor mothers it was very shocking. The author has done well in relating events in a believable way, combining the past with the present in Sam's search for the truth about what really happened in the Mother and Baby Home. Thank goodness times have changed and being an unmarried mother is nolonger shameful.