The Home for Unwanted Girls by Joanna Goodman
Quebec, 1950. Sixteen-year-old Maggie is pregnant by Gabriel, a poor, French farm boy. Her
English-speaking father and judgmental, uncouth mother, send her away to toil on the farm of a jovial aunt and lecherous uncle until the baby is born. Adoption plans go awry, and the sickly, little girl, called Elodie, is sent to an orphanage. She knows little of the outside world beyond these walls, always surrounded by nuns who watch her every move. Little does she know that these are the good days, unaware of the torture that awaits her.
Heartbroken and naive, Maggie goes on with life, diligently working in her father's successful seed store and eventually finding contentment with a successful businessman. She dreams of a reunion with the child she was forced to abandon years ago. Elodie's life takes a dramatic turn for the worse when the Canadian government turns Catholic orphanages into homes for the mentally ill, all in the name of making money. Overnight, children are put into psychiatric facilities, with no one caring about their rights. Socially awkward, with visible scars of inhumane treatment, resilient Elodie learns to fend for herself. She has dreams of her own; reuniting with the mother she's never known.
This novel, based on the author's own mother's recollections of dark times, tells a story of the sharp divide between the English and French cultures in 1950s Quebec and Montreal. Children born out of sin were cast aside and subjected to abhorrent conditions in the very institutions that were meant to protect them. It's a captivating tale full of disturbing images, but one that will ultimately make you believe that anything's possible, as long as you have hope.
Quebec, 1950. Sixteen-year-old Maggie is pregnant by Gabriel, a poor, French farm boy. Her
English-speaking father and judgmental, uncouth mother, send her away to toil on the farm of a jovial aunt and lecherous uncle until the baby is born. Adoption plans go awry, and the sickly, little girl, called Elodie, is sent to an orphanage. She knows little of the outside world beyond these walls, always surrounded by nuns who watch her every move. Little does she know that these are the good days, unaware of the torture that awaits her.
Heartbroken and naive, Maggie goes on with life, diligently working in her father's successful seed store and eventually finding contentment with a successful businessman. She dreams of a reunion with the child she was forced to abandon years ago. Elodie's life takes a dramatic turn for the worse when the Canadian government turns Catholic orphanages into homes for the mentally ill, all in the name of making money. Overnight, children are put into psychiatric facilities, with no one caring about their rights. Socially awkward, with visible scars of inhumane treatment, resilient Elodie learns to fend for herself. She has dreams of her own; reuniting with the mother she's never known.
This novel, based on the author's own mother's recollections of dark times, tells a story of the sharp divide between the English and French cultures in 1950s Quebec and Montreal. Children born out of sin were cast aside and subjected to abhorrent conditions in the very institutions that were meant to protect them. It's a captivating tale full of disturbing images, but one that will ultimately make you believe that anything's possible, as long as you have hope.
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