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4.5 stars
THE HOME FOR UNWANTED GIRLS written by Joanna Goodman is a heart-wrenching story of a mother-daughter bond that could not be broken. This novel is inspired by true events. I listened to the audio version read by Saskia Maarleveld.
"In 1950s Quebec, the French and English tolerate each other with the precarious civility - much like Maggie Hughes parents. Maggie's English-speaking father has ambitions for his daughter that don't include getting married to the poor French boy, Gabriel Phenix, on the neighbouring farm. But Maggie's heart is captured by Gabriel. When she becomes pregnant at fifteen, her parents force her to give baby Elodie up for adoption and get her life "back on track."

Elodie is raised in Québec's impoverished orphanage system. It's an insecure enough existence that takes a tragic turn when Elodie, along with thousands of other orphans in Quebec, is declared mentally ill as a result of a new law that provides more funding to psychiatric hospitals then to orphanages. Withstanding abysmal treatment at the nuns' hands, Elodie finally earns her freedom at 17, when she is thrust into an alien, often unnerving, world.

Maggie, married to a businessman who is eager to start a family, cannot forget the daughter she was forced to abandon, and a chance reconnection with Gabriel spurs a wrenching choice. Over the years Maggie's and Elodie's lives have intertwined but never touched, but they are finally brought together when Maggie goes in search of her long lost daughter, reclaiming the truth that has been denied them both."
-Quote from inside flap of front cover

I enjoyed listening to the unabridged audio version of this story told from two points of view - Maggie's and Elodie's and was "swept up" in their stories. It was heartbreaking. I was surprised to hear about the orphanages in Quebec and the horrors that orphans had forced upon them and was compelled to "Google" it. Now I know why my sister encouraged me to read this book.
4.5 stars ⭐️️⭐️️⭐️️⭐️️💫