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This was a book that I waited for at the library and the wait was worth it. This is a fictional story based on the life of the author’s mother. It is about the Duplessis Orphans. In 1950, Maggie Hughes is the daughter of an English father and French Canadian mother. Her father wants to raise his children English as he feels the French Canadians are poorer, lower class and do not have as good a future as the English. When Maggie falls in love with the French boy on the next farm over, Gabriel, her parents send her off to live with her Aunt and Uncle. It is not until after she arrives there, that she realizes she is pregnant. Being forced to give her baby girl up for adoption, she eventually leaves home for Montreal and meets Roland whom she marries. Gabriel also moves to Montreal and marries Annie. Elodie, their baby, ends up in an orphanage and eventually a Mental Hospital as the province gets more money from the federal government for psychiatric and mental patients than they do for orphans.
The story is told by both Maggie and Elodie. Reading about the terrible treatment of the orphans falsely admitted to the hospitals is terrible. The way some of the nuns treated them made my heart break. They were born out of wedlock so were treated as sinners and below human standards. Some died under suspicious circumstances and were beaten. Both Maggie’s story and Elodie’s story are emotional. To think that these things really happened in the 1950s and 1960s is hard to believe. This is definitely a dark period in Canadian History. If you enjoy historical fiction, especially based on true stories, then read this book. If you are a Canadian, you need to read this book. Make sure you have a box of Kleenex nearby.