The year is 1950. The place is Hillside State Mental Hospital, a dark brooding place, located outside of Chicago. At the time, the treatment of the mentally ill is archaic, consisting of hydrotherapy, electroshock and Insulin coma therapies, and, in the extreme, pre-frontal lobotomy. Tranquilizers and anti-psychotic drugs have not yet appeared. In this atmosphere of hopelessness and despair come student nurses from nearby hospitals for their three-month psychiatric rotation. Mary Lou Hammond and Kate Stephens are two of these young girls. Mary Lou is extremely sensitive. She begins dreaming about a woman in the early part of the century. The dreams tell a continuing story. Soon Mary Lou finds messages in mirror image writing from Margaret Montague, the woman in her dreams. She claims to have died at Hillside in 1911. If this entity does exist, what does she want from Mary Lou? As the students go from one terrifying experience to another in the institution, Mary Lou's dreams intensify, and so do the messages. Kate fears that her friend is losing contact with reality. Mary Lou becomes obsessed with finding proof that the woman did exist as the story escalates to its life-threatening climax.
About Helen Macie Osterman
Helen Osterman lives in a suburb of Chicago. She has five children and nine grandchildren.
She received a Bachelor of Nursing degree from Mercy Hospital-St. Xavier College. During her training, she spent three months at Chicago State Mental Hospital for her psychiatric rotation. Years later, she earned a Master's Degree from Northern Illinois University.
Throughout her forty-five year nursing career, she wrote articles for both nursing and medical journals, including Geriatric Nursing, Nursing Management, Orthopaedic Nursing and Nursing Spectrum. She wrote a section for Clinics in Podiatric Medicine and Surgery in 1997.
In 1997 and 1998, she published two short novels about a nurse, The Web and Things Hidden, by Vista Publishing, a nurse owned publishing company.
She is also the author of the Emma Winberry Mystery series. The Accidental Sleuth, 2007 and The Stranger in the Opera House, 2009.
Helen is a member of The American Association of University Women and The Mystery Writers of America.
Helen can be reached from this website or by visiting her website, Helen Macie Osterman.
~Linda Thompson, Host of www.AuthorsWebTV.com
"Settling into bed with a new book, and looking forward to reading myself to sleep, I was in for a big surprise. Helen Osterman's Notes in a Mirror is a riveting story that takes you into the past with ease. Her descriptive style (from first page to last) has you eagerly anticipating the outcome. This story of a student nurse on rotation at a home for the mentally ill is captivating. Set in the 1950s, long before medications and counseling came into play, the mentally ill were treated a in less-than-human manner which Osterman describes in chilling detail. A bonus is that the story within the story is equally spellbinding. I did not get much sleep that night, turning each page with eager anticipation until I could no longer see the words on the page. This is definitely a book you won't want to miss."
~Harley Jane
Kozak, Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity-award winning author of A
Date You Can't Refuse, says: "Helen Macie Osterman's, Notes in
A Mirror, is half classic ghost story, half true crime, combining
welcome chills, intriguing characters and a frightful glimpse of the
treatment of mental illness in the late 20th century...I couldn't stop
reading it."
~Michael Black, author of police proceedurals,
says: "There is some dynamite writing in Notes in A Mirror."
~George Kulles, author
of historical fiction, says: "Notes in A Mirror is beyond anything in
my experience!"
Lynn Schoorl, yoga instructor, says: "I loved the book! The
swirling snow was such a great visual."
Sherry Scarpacci, author of
mystery thriller Lullaby, "Notes in A Mirror is a
frightening tale set in Dunning Mental Hospital. A winning combination
of mystery and suspense, with a bit of the paranormal thrown in."
[Publisher's Note: Hillside Mental Hospital in Notes in A Mirror
was based on the original Dunning Mental Hospital, which is no longer in
existence.]
The students spent
the next two weeks in the classroom, their evenings completely taken up
with studying. The food was much better quality than they were used to.
They stuffed themselves with tasty entrees, homemade bread and bakery
goods. Waistlines began to bulge. "Kate, this is disgraceful. I can't
button my skirt. This gorging has got to stop," Mary Lou moaned. "But it's all so
good," Kate said. She thought for a minute then screwed up her face. "Maybe we can compromise: no second helpings and regular outdoor
exercise. All we've been doing is sitting these last two weeks. If we're
not in class, we're in this room, hitting the books." "That's a good idea,"
Mary Lou said. "In fact, let's go out right now and measure out a course
where we can run, or, at least, walk fast." The mid-December day
was unseasonably mild. A harsh late afternoon light lay over the complex
of buildings. The snow had packed hard after a freeze the previous week
making walking easy. A soft breeze blew from the southeast. "Boy, it's nice out
here," Kate said. "Don't let it fool you," Mary Lou said. "This is Chicago.
You can't trust the weather. You know that. You've lived here all your
life. Tomorrow it could be in the teens or even lower. We'd better
bundle up."
The girls began a slow jog around the buildings. They passed the
chapel, a small building that held nondenominational Sun- day services.
The bakery lay to their right. The smell of fresh bread wafted on the
air doubling their determination to exercise. Ahead the cottage wards
looked almost like a run down suburban area. The original plan was
to provide a home-like setting where patients could live in a family
atmosphere instead of a large impersonal institution, but buildings were
sadly overcrowded. They saw faces staring at them from the curtained
windows. Most of them just stared, but a few disembodied hands appeared
and waved slowly back and forth. They turned left at the pharmacy to a
large open space behind the power plant. "I wonder what's down
that way?" Mary Lou said. "It looks like a fence. See, way down at the
end." She pointed to wooden posts poking out of the snow. "Let's find
out."
They ran the distance, but were breathing hard when they reached the
fence. "Boy," Kate said blowing hard, "am I out of shape." She leaned against
the old rotting wood standing out at odd angles; in some places new
posts replaced the old ones. "Wow, it looks like a cemetery," Mary Lou
said. "See there where the snow's melted? It's a grave marker." "Are you sure? Let's
climb over." Kate already had one leg over the low railing. "No, we'll get in
trouble. Here I can reach my hand through. There, see where I've wiped
the snow away?" She squinted at the faded markings. "It says Robert
Gil--something. I can't make it out, but the date is pretty clear. My
God! It says 1848 to 1913. I wonder who all these people were." "I don't know, but
it's kind of spooky." Kate looked around. "Do you think there really is a
ghost around here?" Mary Lou shivered. "If there is, this is the place it
would be lurking after dark. Let's go back. I don't want to be anywhere
near here when the sun sets." At that moment an animal ran behind the
cemetery fence. It turned and glared at them with yellow eyes. "What was that?" Mary
Lou said gripping a post. "I don't know," Kate answered. "It looked like
some kind of strange cat, but it's awfully big." As Mary Lou looked
around, the cat had disappeared, but she thought she saw someone slip
behind a large oak tree. She froze. "I think someone's behind that
tree."
Kate turned. "No, you're imagination's playing tricks on you, but let's
get out of here, right now." The girls ran without looking back, but Mary
Lou could feel unfriendly eyes watching them. She tripped and fell over a
mound of snow. When she tried to get up, her limbs refused to move. She
saw that the light was just beginning to fade. Would someone or
something grab her at any minute? She turned and thought she saw a
figure blending in with the shadows of the trees. Was it the ghost or
someone human? Scrambling to her feet, she hurried to catch up with
Kate as they reached the shelter of the buildings. In the distance they
heard a peculiar howl. It wasn't the wind. Was it the animal they had
seen? Or was it something else? They were both breathing hard. "Someone was
out there," Mary Lou gasped. "I could feel it. Someone who didn't want
us at that cemetery and that strange howling." "It was probably that
animal," Kate said with little conviction in her voice. "Come on,
forget about it. Let's go to the dining room. It must be time for
supper. I'm starved."
