Both heartbreaking and haunting, The Hidden Child is a narrative on the Eugenics movement of the early 1900s. Eleanor, while strongly believing in Eugenics, has an epileptic daughter that she desperately wants but feels useless to help. Louise Fein does a great job of portraying a mother's emotions going through a very difficult medical situation with a child, while also showing the social narrative of the day where the husband was the final decision-maker and good outer appearances were of the utmost importance. The balance of having Edward (and previously Eleanor) work in Eugenics while also having a daughter directly impacted by the regulations that movement would bring made for a historical fiction novel that I couldn't put down.

Thank you to William Morrow for the gifted ARC.