The Home for Unwanted Girls by Joanna Goodman ****

In 1950, Maggie Hughes is sixteen and pregnant. This is unacceptable. The pregnancy must be hidden, and the baby cannot be kept. To make matters worse, the corrupt Quebec government together with the Catholic Church exploited these “orphans.” The Home for Unwanted Girls by Joanna Goodman follows Maggie’s and her daughter’s (Elodie) miserable lives for decades.

Maggie’s mother is French, and her father is English. The English are educated, proud, and privileged. They call the French “Pepsi,” cheap and sweet.  This conflict permeates the book, but real villains are the sadistic nuns.

In the end, Elodie plans to write a book the expose and punish the nuns. This book reads like the book she would have written.

A book of abuse, rape, and dysfunction…with a happy ending. Misery and rescue.