Malady

"Malady” is a historical fiction novel about Virginia, a young woman in a Seventh Day Adventist congregation in the 1920’s who is struck with Cotard delusion after an automobile accident, leaving her to believe she and her daughter perished.

While going through the motions of life, Virginia marries a lifelong friend of hers, Oliver Crain, a rambunctious young man and farmer. Soon after, he reveals a secret, his affinity for cross dressing. Oliver introduces Virginia to friends of his and starts on a quest of exposing his wife to speak easies and automobile rides. Yet the pair’s secret is found out by the Adventist preacher, Amos Perry, putting Oliver in danger. Oliver is forced to leave Glenborough Maine and stay with a friend of his, Albert, a veteran of the Great War. Virginia’s life suddenly becomes far more isolated than before from the church and her family when she is ostracized from all she knows. After months of separation, they reunite and attempt to return to the normal sway of life. With the birth of their daughter Sally, the pair attempt to join back into the congregation, only to find themselves rejected still. Soon after, an automobile accident caused by Amos Perry leaves Oliver dead and Virginia with a head injury. The injury leads to her believe that she and her daughter are dead and decaying. Virginia’s brother, Clarence, under the direction of a physician, places her into home confinement. It’s Oliver’s good friend Albert who helps Virginia recover from her illness.