Elizabeth's Heart

The 1929 Series #2

by M.L. Gardner

The 1929 Series takes an unexpected turn when Simon Sinclair finds himself under the doctor’s radar after his prophetic visions land him in a Massachusetts asylum. In 1929, mental health treatment was anything but a solution. With no recovery, Simon faces extremities like shock therapy, mind-numbing medications, and torture. But nothing tortures him more than his feelings for the newest patient in the insane asylum: Elizabeth Williams.

With one look into her eyes, Simon finds himself lovestruck. But his pining leads to more visions, which leads to more treatments. Unable to stop the dreams, he must bear it all for her.

Like every patient there, Elizabeth is a troubled young woman—with a dark secret. But nothing could prepare Simon for the darkest secret of all: Elizabeth suffers from a personality disorder. Devoted to her, Simon only sees the real Elizabeth, not the violent version of her. While the new couple falls deeper in love, the wards grow concerned that they’re making their conditions worse—as if they’re feeding off of each other.

Realizing freedom is the only way for them to be together, Simon and Elizabeth escape with the help of an unlikely hospital source who’s hiding his own secrets. Their escape proves to be temporary, as they’re sent back to the asylum, where Simon’s worst nightmare comes true: Elizabeth’s violent personality makes an appearance and triggers repeated visions that Simon can’t decipher.

After a selfless act of love, Simon’s actions places one of the main characters from the novel 1929 in serious danger.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance, Fiction, Historical, Thriller, Drama, Paranormal

283 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2011

About the author

M. L. Gardner is the bestselling author of the 1929 series. Gardner is frugal to a fault, preserving the old ways of living by canning, cooking from scratch, and woodworking. Nostalgic stories from her grandmother’s life during the Great Depression inspired Gardner to write the 1929 series—as well as her own research into the Roarin’ Twenties. She has authored nine books, three novellas, one book of short stories and a cookbook. Gardner is married with three kids and three cats.


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Reviews

[Katie Voss · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I first started the "1929" series, it wasn't clear what order the books were in. I read '1929' and then waited, and perhaps a year later read '1930: Aryl's Divide' because I had no idea that 'Elizabeth's Heart' was second in the series. And then, the books' titles started changing just slightly, and I sort of gave up on the series for a while because the author seemed to be off her rocker.

But I finally read 'Elizabeth's Heart' this week, and am satisfied. I can continue the series in (hopefully) the right order now.

All that being said, I really did enjoy this book, HOWEVER... it took me at least two weeks to become fully engaged in the story. Initially I was frustrated because I wanted to read about Jonathan, and Caleb, and the others. I wasn't interested in whoever Simon was, and frankly, the story's introduction was weak. The vocabulary was dispassionate, despite the imagery being intense and dramatic, and I found myself asking, "Why should I care about these characters?" The author failed to give me much reason upfront.

Eventually, perhaps around the time when Simon and Elizabeth begin expressing their feelings more obviously and it becomes clear that they are going to begin planning an escape, I formed attachments to the characters and it took me only a few days to finish the book. The beginning was slow (like pulling teeth!) but by the ending's shocking revelations I was undeniably hooked.

My advice: Be patient with the story. M. L. Gardner promises that all of the characters from this series are united somehow (or at least connected) in the end, and so I remain hopeful that this is true.

EDIT JANUARY 2015: (some spoilers ahead)

Now that I've finished the entire series, I feel I must add some thoughts. First of all, I found it highly unnecessary for Simon and Elizabeth to be present in the 1929 series. They are lovely characters all alone, and perhaps given their own storyline would have a better introduction and a novel that could beat the others in a fight to the death. However, that's not what happened. What happened is that M.L. Gardner wrote them into a patchy plot in a roundabout way that confused the hell out of her readers until the very, very end. That's just bad writing. If she wanted to write another novel about some star-crossed lovers in an asylum, I'm all for it, but she put them into the middle of someone else's story.

Second thought-- It seemed very showy to add an entire novel just for a few odd incidents that happened to save Aryl (and then get him transported to London) or save the babies (because obviously no one would have thought of that without a ghost nearby). These incidents are difficult to even categorize. Is it horror, because they're ghosts? Fantasy? Sci-fi? Or that vaguely-coined "paranormal" genre? It WAS historical fiction, which I love, but with the added element of the Simon/Elizabeth spirits, I feel like I've been duped into reading some other genre.

Third thought: It was inefficient to tell the story this way. As mentioned above, these incidents happened to "save" people but also caused harm (like when Aryl is saved by Elizabeth's father but then Aryl A. gets hooked on opium B. becomes lost and ends up across the ocean, and C. has to deal with accidental infidelity. Gardner could have written Aryl's rescue without adding in Simon's ghost.

In conclusion, I was previously satisfied with this book, but when I take the entire series into account I am thoroughly disappointed. These characters (not necessarily this plot line) could have stood alone and I feel they were wasted.

(Final note: The same grammatical/typing errors in the rest of the series also exist in this novel. Get an editor!!!)

[D · Rating 1 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first book in this 1929 series, and was looking forward to the second one. I thought the premise stupid and unbelievable, and abandoned the series after reading this book.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now this is a COOL book!!! I can think of no better way to describe it - it is unique in every way and it brings the reader into it directly making you feel like you are there and living it (which is really a huge feat by the author since I have never entered an asylum much less one with the crazy therapy ideas of 1929!)

Elizabeth's Heart is a 2nd installment, a companion book, to 1929. Though it begins with entirely new characters and a completely different story, there comes a time in the book where I have more knowledge of what is happening to the characters than they do. It's like having inside information. I feel connected to the story in this way - totally cool!

We start out by meeting Simon, a boy who has 'visions' of future happenings that often come true. He has spent the grueling last few months in an insane asylum; given shock therapy each time he shows the physical signs of having had a vision. When a new girl arrives to the asylum, he is immediately lovestruck. He has been having visions of this very girl for a time now and here she is in front of him now. This begins a wonderful love story...but...not one without it's problems. Elizabeth is a very troubled young woman. She has a multiple personality and apparantly the non-Elizabeth one is quite violent. Simon has never witnessed 'the other one' he sees only his lovely Elizabeth whom he is determined to protect forever.

As the love story unfolds, we find clues of a much different Elizabeth than what Simon knows. All along he has thought that he has been helping her to get better. Others see it quite differently - that they are actually feeding off one another's 'problems' and making each other worse. We don't find out until the very end of the book what the reality of that is, though you will have predictions going both ways up until then.

If you enjoy something 'different', something unique that has not been done a million times before, something sort of off the wall that you know should be stupidly unbelievable but you don't even care cuz you LOVE IT anyway...then, this is the book for you. Awesome. It's a great book on it's own and I think it would be enjoyable even without having read 1929 first. Having that 'inside knowledge' of the first book gave me some great satisfaction, though. Also, my mind was racing from page one, trying to find the clues as to how this story was going to fit into the one that came before it. Do keep in mind that 1929 is MUCH different - very reality based with down to earth, non-crazy and very good people (except our faithful villian). It is also minus any type of paranormal occurances. It's about real life after the crash. How do we go from that to the insane asylum in the next installment? I have no clue how it came into in the author's mind, but it is AWESOMELY unexpected and I honestly got great enjoyment from both books, as different as they are. I am moving on to book 3 and I'll be sure to include a lengthy review on it as well!!

On a side note...Simon reminds me very much of one of my all time fave book characters, Odd Thomas (a Dean Koontz creation). Like Odd, Simon is a complete innocent, a naturally very nice and good person. He is also very misunderstood by all but a select few - because of his 'quirks' - an ability to see and talk to the dead. Later in the book, Simon obtains a similar power - also one in which he uses only for the good of helping others, mostly those he's seen in his visions. Just something I kept thinking as I read...

[Thom Swennes · Rating 4 out of 5]

When the daily life around you is so vile, depressive, and hopeless, the only escape you have is in your head and your vivid imagination. Simon Sinclair is committed to a mental institution after warning his father to keep his mother away from the horses. The warning was ignored and his mother was killed, confirming to Simon that he could see into the future and his father that Simon wasn’t mentally stable. Today someone with foresight is often considered gifted, a few decades ago it was a curse; akin to witchcraft a few centuries ago. Although Simon had no psychological issues, his stay in the institution and their choice of treatment could have driven him crazy. Then he met the eyes of Elizabeth………
Before and up until the mid-twentieth century, mental disease, stress disorders, and other psychological abnormalities were mainly treated with drugs and now unspeakable and almost unbelievable treatments. Patients were treated more as criminals than vulnerable, disturbed human beings.
Elizabeth Williams came to the asylum with the diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), much like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. One identity is that of a sweet, innocent, soft-spoken, and docile young woman and the other a strong, assertive, and often violent one. Simon and Elizabeth form a bond and their association proves beneficial for both young people.

Perception is everything. During the last week of October 1929, the world outside the walls of the institution was going to hell in a hand basket when the bottom falls out of the stock market and Wall Street comes to a screeching halt. Inside the thick walls and barred windows, everything goes on as if nothing happened.
This is the second book in the 1929 series. When I first started it I thought it would be an extension, albeit vague and a circuitous addition of the first story. Instead, it is as different as the blazing light of day and the hollow darkness of night. The only ties come in the form of misty, unassociated dreams and random encounters. Like two speeding trains in the cold night, traveling in the same direction on separate tracks. Weaving and swerving, sometimes far apart and sometimes so close they can actually see each other; if they take the time to really look. The two trains finally stop at the same station and discharge their passengers, to eventually mingle. That said, this story is not only in another ball park but an entirely different game. The humongous chapters (I don’t remember ever reading a book with such massive chapters) are filled with action, hope, despair, and eventually resignation to inevitability. Hopeless love in a seemingly fruitless time; what could possibly be more heart wrenching?

Although I am a huge fan of Stephen King, the twist in this story didn’t really do anything to enhance the story. I must admit that it lowers my star-rating and I can only hope it is a one-off occurrence. I think many people will enjoy this series but I advise you to read them in order; for clarity.

[Chrystal Mahan · Rating 5 out of 5]

You had me at “mental health asylum.” Me. Not the characters in the book. I have always been extremely interested in reading material regarding insane asylums or mental health clinics. I can’t get enough of those paranormal shows that constantly look for ghosts in all of the asylums around the world. They are always my favorite because I love hearing the history behind all that happened in these places. Let me assure you it is not because I am sadistic in thinking that those with mental health disorders should be treated the way they were, and perhaps still are in some corners of the world. I am sorry so many people had to suffer and I wish there would have been other ways for doctors back then to figure out what was wrong with people suffering from medical illnesses. Those who did suffer should not go unnoticed.

But, on the other hand, without their pain and suffering so many people would not be healed today. I know it does not make it right, but it is what it is. Book reviews of books I become overly excited about tend to always be hard to write because I want to sit here, pounding on my keyboard, and tell you all the good stuff. If I do that, then what would be the point of you getting your own copy to devour? Elizabeth. Sweet, loving, beautiful Elizabeth. Thrust into a world where confusion is the norm. Not understanding why she is there it slowly begins to unravel that there are “two” of her. Two become three.

Elizabeth suffers from multiple personality disorder. Part was due to a traumatic event with the family business and the other part is inherited trait (or learned behavior depending on your view of mental health) from her father. It is her mother that has put her in this awful place. Simon sees things. A gift or curse he can’t decide. Doctor does not understand. His method of treatment for his patients? Shock therapy. Gardner has written this book in such a way, picking just right descriptive words, making you feel as if you are sitting in the common room with everyone. You can feel their pain, the confusion, the love and friendship that bonds between kindred spirits. You can hear the screams. You become a part of the story. The story follows Simon who immediately fall for Elizabeth.

You will read about their trials and tribulations of a “couple” in a hell where relationships are not permitted. All they want is to spend the rest of their life together. A future is planned. There are twists and turns to keep you engaged. The ending is not what you expected. I sat up all night reading this book. Once it was over, I wanted more. I believe you’ll enjoy it too.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved that this installment in the series takes place in an asylum with all the expected paranormal stuff that goes along with my own personal enhancements regarding said asylums (especially during the early 1900"s). I find it fascinating. I was surprised by the change of feel of this one as compared to 1929, but pleasantly so.

I don't typically do "series" books. but I have to say, I am in love with this series! The time frame is very appealing to me and the initial plot about the stock market crash in the first book 1929 had me completely enthralled. I have bought (and I never buy books when I can get them free) the next book in the series the second I finish the one I am reading. I am completely invested in these characters and I am anxious to see how it all wraps up. They are easy reads with a good amount of predictability, though not always, I've been surprised a few times. I love how each book has a bit of a different feel or slant. I definitely recommend this series to any reader of historical fiction. M.L. Gardner"s writing is descriptive enough to make you feel as if you are walking down Wall Street on the day of the crash without it being exhausting and overdone. LOVE THEM!

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Strange book - you need to read it to understand the story in the later books, but this one is wierd

[Karen Faber · Rating 2 out of 5]

These books aren't that great, but they are easy reading and I'm sucked in by the series so I'm sure I'll read the rest of them soon.

[Lora Shouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recently, I have been doing another series of reviews for books that I think might make good Halloween reads. I did not expect Elizabeth’s Heart, the second book in the 1929 Series, to be such a book. This is a historical fiction series. The first book dealt with the stock market crash of October 1929 that brought on the Great Depression and the efforts of a group of friends to survive the aftermath of that financial debacle.

The author warned in the introduction to Elizabeth’s Heart that this book would appear to be almost unrelated to that first book, but that the connections would become clearer in later books. The apparent unrelatedness to the first book until almost the end of Elizabeth’s Heart is spot on. One can only hope that the connections will become clearer in the later books.

Elizabeth’s Heart is primarily a love story, especially in the first half of the book. Simon and Elizabeth are both confined to a mental hospital. He sees visions from time to time. Most of those that concern the future come true. After he warned his father not to let his mother go near their horses on a certain day – a warning his father ignored – and his mother was subsequently killed in a riding accident, his father had him confined to this mental hospital, as if he had somehow caused his mother’s death.

Elizabeth suffers from multiple personality disorder. Her family owns a tanning business. They raise cattle primarily to be killed and have their hides turned into leather. This is a rough business, repellent to a sensitive girl like Elizabeth. So her mind creates another personality, a much stronger one, to help her deal with it. Her mother is convinced that the mental hospital can cure her of this rougher personality while still leaving her able to function as the head of a tanning business.

Remember, this is happening in 1929 – 1930. I am not sure that multiple personality disorder was understood at that time, even as well as it is explained here. The treatment Simon and Elizabeth receive sounds much more closely related to torture than to anything designed to cure any sort of mental illness. Elizabeth is involuntarily sterilized. Simon is subjected to repeated shock treatments which it seems to have been decided since have no beneficial effect on anybody.

One orderly seems to understand that neither of them is crazy and helps them to visit each other a few times. Finally, they talk him into helping them escape. But they are apparently too close to their own homes. They wind up at Elizabeth’s family farm, where her father, who suffers from a similar problem, helps to resupply them before they continue their journey. But they have been pursued by hospital personnel and the Sheriff’s men the whole time, and are caught just as they are leaving. When Simon tries to protect Elizabeth, one of them hits him with a loosening lick (don’t ask) on the head, leaving a large swelling. This time, when they administer the shock treatment, he dies.

This is where the book suddenly takes on the traits of a Halloween story. When Simon wakes up dead, he discovers that quite a few people who have previously died at the hospital have refused to go on. These ghosts are mad (as in angry; they may or may not also have been crazy), and they eventually work up the courage to take their anger out on the doctor whom they blame for both their deaths and their suffering while they were alive. This is a scarier scene than you will find in many horror novels.

But the scariest thing is what happens to Elizabeth. She eventually is released by means of growing another new personality. It is not at first obvious how this one differs from her earlier alternate personality. But right at the end, she says something that I found much more frightening than anything you would expect coming from the shy, sensitive Elizabeth.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The sequel to 1929, although the connection is not immediately apparent...

Simon has been confined to the Massachusetts Asylum for Feeble Minds and Lunatics because he sees things that are going to happen. He meets and falls in love with Elizabeth, another patient, who has split personality disorder. With the help of one of the asylum's workers, David, Simon and Elizabeth escape for a few days. Unfortunately, they are recaptured, and are brought back to the asylum. During shock treatment, Simon dies, and Elizabeth splits into yet another personality upon hearing of his death.

Simon stays on at the asylum as a ghost. Only David and the other resident ghosts can see him. He decides to wait until Elizabeth joins him, no matter how long it takes. Eventually Elizabeth is released, but she isn't the real Elizabeth. Instead, the third personality, Beth, has taken over, and she is completely crazy and violent.

Through Simon, we discover that Aryl did not die in the boat explosion, but was instead rescued by Elizabeth's father Charles. The family nurses him back to health, but in the process, get him hooked on opium. When Elizabeth's mother realizes that Aryl is in danger from Elizabeth, she tells Charles to take him away. Instead of leaving Aryl in Rockport, Charles takes him to Boston, and life becomes a living hell for Aryl for almost a year...

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the oddest of the books in the series. We are introduced to Simon and Elizabeth, both of whom are residents in a mental health asylum. They fall in love and with the help of a hospital source they escape from the asylum only to be caught again and returned. Simon pays the ultimate price for their short time of freedom while Elizabeth, distraught over Simon's death, shows her darkest side.

She is released to her father's custody and meets up with Aryl Sullivan. Elizabeth and her father both suffer from mental illness which has been controlled by the local witch doctor with opiates to which they have both become addicted. Elizabeth treats Aryl with the opiates and gets him addicted as well.

Aryl somehow leaves the family behind and continues on with his adventures, which are described in another book. Somehow, Elizabeth and her entire family end up dead.

This was a very confusing book, and I'm still not sure how it fit into the whole picture. It was an interesting story, but seemed totally non-related to the rest of the series with the exception of this is where Aryl becomes addicted to morphine, which is very significant to the remaining story line.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! The characters are so unique and vivid. Now there are spirits who have abilities to talk with the living. The spirits have power to coerce people into doing things if they are weak minded. The book touches on treatments in a mental hospital in 1929, which is why we have such a stigma attached to mental health. The author has a unique and vivid imagination. Two mental health patients fall in love but cannot even talk to each other without fearing what they think is punitive retaliation by the "doctor". The doctor truly thinks he is helping them. The couple escapes from the institution with help from a gifted person who works at the institution. The are caught. Not before, the man promises his love and unending devotion to her. Read for yourself. I enjoyed it, I am sure you will.

[Rachel Mathis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. Instead I spent most of it confused and wondering what the heck it had to do with the characters from 1929. At 95% completion I finally understood. I got a frustratingly short glimpse at one of the characters I got so attached to in Book One of this series.

Simon and Elizabeth's story would have worked much better as a stand alone novel, in my honest opinion. The fact that Simon was a ghost for most of the book felt like a huge genre shift from the previous book.

I enjoyed certain aspects of this book quite a bit, David and Loretta were very interesting characters. I just felt ultimately that this book was a misstep within the larger arc of this series. I have purchased the next book in the series, so we shall see.

[Lynelle Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Until the end of the book, I had no idea why the book was part of the 1929 series. It simply didn't make sense. This book is weird, do parrot other readers. It definitely challenges you to continue; the author's writing making it plausible and entertaining. Looking at life in asylum's you had a good understanding of the psychological practices of that time. I could emphasised with every patient especially with Simon and Elizabeth.
It is not the normal, boy-meet-girl, type of romantic book. Challenges cause this couple to dig deep to really be in touch, but even that did not guarantee a happy ever after.
A book I enjoyed and definitely looking forward to Drifter, book 4 in the series.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

1929 - The Series

Initially I did not like this book. I was extremely excited about reading the next book after I finished 1929 but I could not see where this book fit in. I believed that the author kept the reader at bay too long. However, the pieces did begin to fit together, for the most part. BUT, at the end of the book the reader is dangling over another cliff wondering where the story would go next. I guess it is time for the next book.

[Janet M Sirel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great story in the series

I just finished the second book in the 1929 series. The books get better with each continuing story. I wasn't sure how this book was related to the series but as I finished, it all made sense. The lives are entwined with the first book. I can't wait to start the third in the series.

[Megan Weiss · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one wasn't nearly as good as the first. It was weird. I don't understand where this side story is supposed to coincide later on with the main plot. I'm all for the supernatural and am a believer myself, but it just feels really weird in a series like this. The way it ended seems really far fetched. Hopefully the third one gets back on track.

[Janine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a strange book. I was able to make the connections to the previous books in the series, but, as it was all centered on and about extra-sensory skills that had other characters convinced of the main characters' lack of mental health. I liked it enough to read it all but didn't like this book as well as the other books in the series.

[Mike Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Into the heart of madness

What do you know about how America treated it's mentally ill during the 1930s.Who decided which person required 'locking away' for the safety of the public and themselves.How did those individuals regain their freedom especially if they could prove their sanity?

[Brandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Odd

This was an odd , but captivating read. Was not what I expected at all and now left wondering what happens next. Not sure if I want to know or not. Great writer, just not sure it's for me. Definitely pulls you in though. In a odd haunting way.

[Stefanie Daby]

Interesting read

Interesting read. It took me a little too get into it but i did and finally saw how they are connected. It became a good read. Ready to go on to the next in the series

[Mike Seigler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like it going on to book 3.

[Zindia Pierson · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a strange turn in the series. I am sure it will effect the rest if the series, though not sure how some of the characters will be added in.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I was a little confused because this book did not seem to tie in with the first in the series. But it all comes together in the end! You will want to start 1930 immediately after. 👍🏻👍🏻

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

not really where I thought this series was going...like it but a bit unexpected

[Mona Storm · Rating 5 out of 5]

After I read this book I purchase the entire 1929 series See my review of that

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book

You people should just read this book yourselves and write your own review on this novel yourself and I really enjoyed reading this book very much so. Shelley MA

[Zachary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elizabeth's Heart

This is a TRILOGY. The first one was ok. This one was a disappointment. If interested, read my reviews on Goodreads.

[Terri · Rating 5 out of 5]

It Fooled Me!

I thought the first half of this book was absolutely boring! Without giving the story away, I’ll just say it got better in the second half. A very clever story!

[Trenee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book.

I would only recommend this book if you’re willing to read the whole series. Otherwise each book leaves you hanging. Lots of loose ends.