The Home For Unwanted Girls by Joanna Goodman

Content Warning: Contains vivid scenes of insane asylums, lobotomies, straight jackets and one rape.

This is definitely a Five Star read, although it is a bit Depressing

It is set over 24 years beginning in the 1950 when an unwed mother gives birth to a baby girl she names Elodie. Maggie's (the mother) parents insist she give the baby up to an orphanage without letting her talk to Gabriel, the father of the baby.

This book is set in Canada where the French and English tensions are high. Maggie is a mix of both although Gabriel is French. Maggie's father forbids her to contact Gabriel because he feels that Maggie is too good to marry a Frenchman.

During this time Canada is turning most orphanages into insane asylums with horrible conditions! A doctor exams each orphan to deem them sane or not. Elodie is deemed insane and kept in the asylum. The horrors she experiences there are appalling!

Meanwhile Maggie marries a man that her father approves of. She later reconnects with Gabriel and finds time has not changed their feelings for each other. Things progress from there.

During all of this Maggie is searching for Elodie. The ending is very good. Thereby ending the book on a happy note. I will say no more so as not to ruin anything else. I strongly recommend this book! I listened to this as an audiobook and the person who narrated it was great, and did a perfect French accent!

*Historical facts: The doctor that developed lobotomies was António Moniz. He won the Nobel Prize for his work in 1949 (mostly lobotomies) which was shared with Walter Rudolf Hess (who had also done work in this area.) Source Wikipedia

Also the orphans that were deemed "mentally ill" were called the Duplessi Orphans! 20,000 orphans were deemed this between the 1940's and 1950's, after the Premier of Quebec Maurice Dulessis. Who came up with the idea. The Roman Catholic Churches who ran the orphanages/asylums deny any wrong doing!










Comments

  1. Bobbi IJuly 29, 2020 at 3:10 PM

    This is definitely something that I want to read! Thank you for the thoughtful insight!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Books Of All Kinds by Carissa LJuly 29, 2020 at 5:31 PM

      Thank you for the kind words. I am glad you found this helpful! Hope you enjoy the book as much as I did.

      Delete

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