CHARGE (What was the author trying to say?): Inspired by the author’s mother, the daughter of an Anglo father and French-Canadian mother, the book addresses cultural, religious, and moral divides.
FACTS: In order to increase the per diem paid to nuns housing orphans in Quebec during the mid-twentieth century, the orphans were declared insane and the orphanages were converted to hospitals for the insane. The story traces a mother-daughter bond that could not be broken.
VERDICT (Was the author successful?): Guilty, as charged. A shocking look at undisclosed things occurring during own lifetime.
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