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popthebutterfly 's review for:
The House Children
by Heidi Daniele
Disclaimer: I received this book from SparkPress. Thanks! All opinions are my own.
Book Series: standalone
Rating: 4/5
Publication Date: April 9, 2019
Genre: Historical Fiction
Recommended Age: 15+ (sexual assault, TW suicide, TW abuse)
Publisher: SparkPress
Pages: 300
Amazon Link
Synopsis: In 1937, Mary Margaret Joyce is born in the Tuam Home for unwed mothers. After spending her early years in an uncaring foster home, she is sentenced by a judge to an industrial school, where she is given the name Peg, and assigned the number 27. Amid one hundred other unwanted girls, Peg quickly learns the rigid routine of prayer, work, and silence under the watchful eye of Sister Constance. Her only respite is an annual summer holiday with a kind family in Galway.
At the tender age of thirteen, Peg accidentally learns the identity of her birthmother. Peg struggles with feelings of anger and abandonment, while her mother grapples with the shame of having borne a child out of wedlock. The tension between them mounts as Peg, now becoming a young adult, begins to make plans for her future beyond Ireland.
Based on actual events, The House Children is a compelling story of familial love, shameful secrets, and life inside Ireland’s infamous industrial schools.
Review: I thought this book was moving and poetic. It was raw and it gave an unashamed look at Ireland’s unfair laws regarding unwed mothers and their out-of-wedlock children. The children, and the mothers, were victims of a system that was so focused on stomping out any and all “sin” that it forgot about the people it left behind in its wake. In my personal opinion, this is a good example of what happens when you have a country that is ruled by a lot of people who think the same way. They don’t have that devil’s advocate to suggest/argue the opposite view and so laws like these get passed. I’m sure it worked some to help statistically take down unwed mothers and “bastard” children, it probably also helped in raising secret abortions and infanticide. I grew up in a very conservative county and being a teenage mother was always (and still is) heavily frowned upon. A girl that went to my school found herself pregnant. She wore baggy clothes and didn’t tell her parents. She had the baby in secret and, from what I heard from friends who knew her, tried to kill the child to hide her “sin”. While having a child at a young age or outside a solid relationship isn’t ideal, the mothers and children shouldn’t fear being punished by others for existing. And, if I’m so frank, teen/unwed sex has happened since the dawn of time. As long as there has been people, there has been sex. You’re never going to create enough laws/policies to rid pregnancy from those society deems “undeserving” of the miracle. It happens and the sooner we all realize it and work to help all pregnant women without prejudice in whatever they need or desire, the better in my opinion.
If I had to say some negatives about the book, it would be the abrupt end of the book and some of the mysteries of some of the other characters. I also wish that the book didn’t play it safe with one character. I wish that the main character was in a bit more danger and that her life wasn’t so coincidental.
Verdict: A marvelous read!
Book Series: standalone
Rating: 4/5
Publication Date: April 9, 2019
Genre: Historical Fiction
Recommended Age: 15+ (sexual assault, TW suicide, TW abuse)
Publisher: SparkPress
Pages: 300
Amazon Link
Synopsis: In 1937, Mary Margaret Joyce is born in the Tuam Home for unwed mothers. After spending her early years in an uncaring foster home, she is sentenced by a judge to an industrial school, where she is given the name Peg, and assigned the number 27. Amid one hundred other unwanted girls, Peg quickly learns the rigid routine of prayer, work, and silence under the watchful eye of Sister Constance. Her only respite is an annual summer holiday with a kind family in Galway.
At the tender age of thirteen, Peg accidentally learns the identity of her birthmother. Peg struggles with feelings of anger and abandonment, while her mother grapples with the shame of having borne a child out of wedlock. The tension between them mounts as Peg, now becoming a young adult, begins to make plans for her future beyond Ireland.
Based on actual events, The House Children is a compelling story of familial love, shameful secrets, and life inside Ireland’s infamous industrial schools.
Review: I thought this book was moving and poetic. It was raw and it gave an unashamed look at Ireland’s unfair laws regarding unwed mothers and their out-of-wedlock children. The children, and the mothers, were victims of a system that was so focused on stomping out any and all “sin” that it forgot about the people it left behind in its wake. In my personal opinion, this is a good example of what happens when you have a country that is ruled by a lot of people who think the same way. They don’t have that devil’s advocate to suggest/argue the opposite view and so laws like these get passed. I’m sure it worked some to help statistically take down unwed mothers and “bastard” children, it probably also helped in raising secret abortions and infanticide. I grew up in a very conservative county and being a teenage mother was always (and still is) heavily frowned upon. A girl that went to my school found herself pregnant. She wore baggy clothes and didn’t tell her parents. She had the baby in secret and, from what I heard from friends who knew her, tried to kill the child to hide her “sin”. While having a child at a young age or outside a solid relationship isn’t ideal, the mothers and children shouldn’t fear being punished by others for existing. And, if I’m so frank, teen/unwed sex has happened since the dawn of time. As long as there has been people, there has been sex. You’re never going to create enough laws/policies to rid pregnancy from those society deems “undeserving” of the miracle. It happens and the sooner we all realize it and work to help all pregnant women without prejudice in whatever they need or desire, the better in my opinion.
If I had to say some negatives about the book, it would be the abrupt end of the book and some of the mysteries of some of the other characters. I also wish that the book didn’t play it safe with one character. I wish that the main character was in a bit more danger and that her life wasn’t so coincidental.
Verdict: A marvelous read!