Asylum

On an innocent day in 1899, while her father travels abroad, twelve-year-old Maggie Delito, daughter of the wealthy Northeast industrialist, unwittingly witnesses a shocking scandal. The next day, she’s dragged from her family’s estate and locked in an asylum to ensure her silence. Beneath the noted asylum’s polish of respectability, a wicked villainy hides in dank shadows—and Maggie fears she will be its next victim.

Seventy-five years later, Laura Delito inherits more than assets when her prestigious family’s mysterious past comes knocking. After sacrificing an independent career on the brink of success, she assumes control of Delito’s failing jewelry business while daring to expose its ghosts—a strange old woman, cryptic messages, backroom betrayals, and a rare antique key that might unlock the truth. As she pursues clues from the Northeast to North Africa, she fails to see the danger looming close to home.

A Book Club favorite with Discussion Topics Study Guide. Set in periods of transition with the rise and fall of manufacturing, changing mores and folkways, and struggles for equal rights, Asylum prompts discussion of social and economic issues that remain relevant today.