STORY SUMMARY
In Quebec, during the '50s, the English and the French barely tolerated each other. The Hughes' family was no exception. Maggie's parents were English and French. Maman was French-Canadian. She was poor but married an Englishman who owned his own seed store and was famous for knowing everything about gardening, seeds, and pesticides. In their little town called Dunham, in the province of Quebec, he was known as "the Seed Man". They had a son named Peter who was away at school. Maggie was their oldest daughter, followed by Violet, Geri, and Nicole. All of the girls were expected to marry local boys, but NOT French boys, and work in Daddy's store.
Maurice Duplessis was the premier of Quebec while Maggie was growing up and her father did NOT like his politics, nor did many of the other townspeople.
One of those families was the Phenix family. The parents were gone, and the oldest girl, Clementine, was raising her younger brother Gabriel and his sisters. He is a poor French boy, and Maggie loves him. At age 15 they begin sneaking around and she ends up pregnant. When her parents find out,they banish her to her Aunt Deda's and Uncle Yvon, where her uncle rapes her. Maggie is not believed when she tries to tell Maman.
Once Maggie's little girl is born, whom she named Elodie, she is whisked away to an orphanage in a town near Montreal. (Children born out of wedlock were considered to be "in sin" by the Catholic Church as were the mothers who bore them. They were usually put in homes or sold in black market adoptions).
The orphanage where Elodie was placed was known as a home for "unwanted girls" which is what those homes were known as back in the 1950s. Around the time that Elodie (pronounced like Melody minus the M) is 7 years old, Maggie is now married to a man named Roland and they have been trying to have a baby. Roland knows nothing about Maggie's past. She miscarries several babies and has given up hope of ever finding her daughter Elodie. Her marriage is suffering because Roland only wants a baby and doesn't want Maggie to work, which is something she loves. Not only does she love plants and gardening, but she loves books and has become a translator/editor for a well known author.
Meanwhile, around 1957, Duplessis orders that all orphanages begin to take mental patients as that way they can get more government money for the nuns who take care of the patients and orphans. All of the orphans are labeled either mentally retarded or mentally insane. Much abuse, both physical, sexual, and emotional goes on at the hands of the nuns and orderlies in these "homes".
Finally, when Elodie is 17 years old, she is thrust out into the world to find a job as a seamstress and to share an apartment in Montreal with a former orphan.
Little does she know, Maggie has begun to look for her based on a reconnection with Gabriel, the man she still loves. Gabriel is divorced from Anna and they have no children. Maggie divorces Roland and she and Gabriel decide to marry after Maggie gets pregnant with Gabriel's son whom they name James. They get a little house in the country and Maggie continues to edit books as well as take over her father's store once he dies of cancer.
Over the next few years, Elodie and Maggie's lives touch but never connect. Until one fateful day.......
MY THOUGHTS
This book is an eye opener to the horror that the Premier thrust upon innocent children, along with the abuses of the Catholic church.
The characters are believable and well developed as is the setting.
I love that the story moves forward quickly and does not get bogged down. I also love how Maggie comes to reconcile with her own Maman with whom she had a tumultuous relationship growing up.
There are so many details to this story that I don't want to reveal as I don't want to ruin it for you in case you decide to read it.
It's a beautifully written book by a Canadian writer I've never heard of. She has written one other book which I plan on looking for at our library.
The author shares some notes in the back of the book about the development of this story and apparently it was inspired by events in her own mother's life.
Thankfully in the 1960s the mental institutions and orphanages were starting to be investigated and many of the children were rescued.
This horrible crime hurt over 20,000 Canadian children before the "hospitals and homes" where shut down.
The Catholic Church still does not admit to any wrong doing.
In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 17 and older (due to mature content).
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 10.
1 comment:
this sounds good. It's going on my library list. I don't remember these events as I wasn't born until the '60's so am very interested in this.
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