9780062799371
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The Home for Unwanted Girls audiobook

  • By: Joanna Goodman
  • Narrator: Saskia Maarleveld
  • Category: Fiction, Historical
  • Length: 9 hours 58 minutes
  • Publisher: HarperAudio
  • Publish date: April 17, 2018
  • Language: English
  • (33430 ratings)
(33430 ratings)
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The Home for Unwanted Girls Audiobook Summary

Philomena meets The Orphan Train in this suspenseful, provocative novel filled with love, secrets, and deceit–the story of a young unwed mother who is forcibly separated from her daughter at birth and the lengths to which they go to find each other.

In 1950s Quebec, French and English tolerate each other with precarious civility–much like Maggie Hughes’ parents. Maggie’s English-speaking father has ambitions for his daughter that don’t include marriage to the poor French boy on the next farm over. But Maggie’s heart is captured by Gabriel Phenix. When she becomes pregnant at fifteen, her parents force her to give baby Elodie up for adoption and get her life ‘back on track’.

Elodie is raised in Quebec’s impoverished orphanage system. It’s a precarious enough existence that takes a tragic turn when Elodie, along with thousands of other orphans in Quebec, is declared mentally ill as the result of a new law that provides more funding to psychiatric hospitals than to orphanages. Bright and determined, Elodie withstands abysmal treatment at the nuns’ hands, finally earning her freedom at seventeen, when she is thrust into an alien, often unnerving world.

Maggie, married to a businessman eager to start a family, cannot forget the daughter she was forced to abandon, and a chance reconnection with Gabriel spurs a wrenching choice. As time passes, the stories of Maggie and Elodie intertwine but never touch, until Maggie realizes she must take what she wants from life and go in search of her long-lost daughter, finally reclaiming the truth that has been denied them both.

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The Home for Unwanted Girls Audiobook Narrator

Saskia Maarleveld is the narrator of The Home for Unwanted Girls audiobook that was written by Joanna Goodman

Joanna Goodman is the author of the bestselling novels The Forgotten Daughter, The Home for Unwanted Girls,and The Finishing School. Originally from Montreal, she now lives in Toronto with her husband and two children.

About the Author(s) of The Home for Unwanted Girls

Joanna Goodman is the author of The Home for Unwanted Girls

More From the Same

The Home for Unwanted Girls Full Details

Narrator Saskia Maarleveld
Length 9 hours 58 minutes
Author Joanna Goodman
Category
Publisher HarperAudio
Release date April 17, 2018
ISBN 9780062799371

Subjects

The publisher of the The Home for Unwanted Girls is HarperAudio. includes the following subjects: The BISAC Subject Code is Fiction, Historical

Additional info

The publisher of the The Home for Unwanted Girls is HarperAudio. The imprint is HarperAudio. It is supplied by HarperAudio. The ISBN-13 is 9780062799371.

Global Availability

This book is only available in the United States.

Goodreads Reviews

Angela M

April 08, 2018

3.5 stars rounded up.Joanna Goodman does not shy away from focusing on some controversial things that happened in Canada’s history in this moving novel. She presents the divide between English and French in Quebec in the 1950’s both from a family perspective as well as a societal one. “Much like the province in which she lives, where the French and English are perpetually vying for the upper hand, her family also has two very distinct sides.”“The Eastern Townships is mostly farm country, containing pockets of both French and English who live in relative harmony — that is, relative to Quebec, where the French and English tolerate each other with precarious civility but don’t mingle the way other more homogeneous communities do.” But of course, they do mingle. Maggie ‘s father is English and her mother is French. Although her father forbids her to see the French boy from the neighboring farm, she does and finds herself pregnant at fifteen. I had mixed feelings while reading the first part of the novel as it felt too YA with this forbidden teen age romance. But then I was captivated when the narrative alternates with an orphan named Elodie, the child that Maggie was forced to give up at birth. Elodie’s story unfolds and we learn of the awful things that happened to thousands of orphans. The Catholic Church who ran many orphanages, in collaboration with the Catholic premier Maurice Duplessis, designate the orphanages as psychiatric institutions in order to obtain increased government funding. The orphans were declared mentally ill or mentally deficient, were denied any education, and endured horrible treatment in many cases. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duple...) It reminded me in some ways of orphan trains in the US and how some children under the guise of being adopted became free labor or how women could be committed to mental asylums just because a husband or father claimed them to insane. In addition to the divides between the English and the French, there are family rifts. There are rifts between husband and wives, father and daughter, but there are also enduring bonds. I found the story to be heartbreaking as a mother and daughter hope for a reunion over the years. That this is based in part on the author’s mother’s story and that true events are portrayed made this an even more meaningful read for me.I received an advanced copy of this book from Harper Perennial through Edelweiss.

Lindsay - Traveling Sisters Book Reviews

September 18, 2018

5 stars! I truly loved this novel!This story ripped my heart out. It made me angry, hopeful, frustrated. It had me rooting for these characters, holding my breath and crossing my fingers for a positive outcome. It exhausted me emotionally (in the best way possible). Simply stated – I adored this book!This novel revolves around Maggie Hughes who, at fifteen, becomes pregnant and is forced by her parents to give her baby daughter, Elodie, up. We follow Maggie through years of separation from and longing for Elodie, where each and every day is haunted by thoughts as to where Elodie is and what kind of life she could be living.I loved Maggie! Her character touched my heart in so many ways. The author, Joanna Goodman, does an impeccable job creating such vivid, real and relatable characters. I was drawn into their lives and situations, questioning my own thoughts and feelings several times along the journey. The book unravels through two perspectives, Maggie and Elodie, each adding a beautiful layer of emotion and intrigue. I loved them both and thought the novel flowed seamlessly and at the perfect pace. To find out that this story was based on the author’s mother made it even more powerful for me. I look forward to reading more from this author!This touching novel was a Traveling Friends read. To find this review, along with the other Traveling Sister reviews, please visit our blog at:https://twosisterslostinacoulee.com/2...Thank you to Edelweiss, Harper and Joanna Goodman for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!The Home For Unwanted Girls is AVAILABLE NOW!!

Norma

September 24, 2018

THE HOME FOR UNWANTED GIRLS by JOANNA GOODMAN was such a moving, heart-wrenching, and riveting historical fiction novel that had quite the emotionally gripping story. This book literally crushed me and made me feeling so many different emotions while reading it. Some of the subject matter and historical facts that was focused on here in this novel was absolutely unconscionable and had me so angry. Being from Canada there were some events that I was aware of but some that I wasn’t and it was definitely an eye-opening experience for me reading this novel. I really enjoyed reading and learning a part of our history that I wasn’t aware of. JOANNA GOODMAN delivers an intriguing, beautifully written and suspenseful read here with complex and well-developed characters. The story is told from alternating points of view between that of Maggie who was forced to give up her child at the age of 15 and Elodie her daughter who grew up in an orphanage. I was thoroughly taken by both of these emotional perspectives equally and was so hoping that mother and daughter would once again be reunited. Learning that this book was based on the author’s mother just made this story even more thought-provoking, touching and heartbreaking. This was definitely an emotionally tough book for me to read but regardless an excellent one. Norma’s Stats:Cover: Eye-catching, appealing, and immediately had me intrigued. An extremely fitting representation to storyline. Title: Intriguing, sad, fits the story so well and love how it plays so meaningfully into the story.Writing/Prose: beautiful, engaging, and empathically written.Plot: Provocative, captivating, steady-paced, held my attention and extremely enjoyable.Ending: Hopeful, touching, and satisfying.Overall: A fantastic, emotional, important, memorable, and heartfelt read! Would highly recommend!* Traveling Friends Group Read *Review can also be found on Two Sisters Lost in a Coulee Reading:https://twosisterslostinacoulee.com

Jonetta

September 19, 2018

Maggie Hughes is the 15-year old daughter of an English speaking Canadian father and a French mother living in Quebec. Despite her father’s admonishments to not cavort with French boys, Maggie’s young heart is captured by Gabriel Phénix, the young and impoverished boy living at the adjacent farm. When she ends up pregnant, her parents force her to give up her baby but before she’s taken away, Maggie implores them to name her Elodie. That fortuitous moment provides the only means by which she can later embark on a journey to perhaps find the daughter she reluctantly gave up for adoption. Unfortunately, Elodie is never adopted from the Home for Unwanted Girls, an orphanage run by nuns, which later changes to a mental hospital to receive more government funding. All the orphans are accordingly declared mentally ill. Maggie and Elodie are the narrators and the story shifts between the two, often in parallel time frames. I found it an interesting contrast as Maggie moves on with her life but never forgetting the child she lost and Elodie never giving up hope that her mother would attempt to find her. Both of their lives were troubled but none more than Elodie who suffered terribly at the hands of the nuns, one in particular. The story also exposed the ethnic divide between the English speaking citizens and the French. It was particularly awful to witness Maggie’s father’s hypocrisy against the French given his own wife’s and children’s heritage. Also, it was a political decision that forced the orphanages to become psychiatric hospitals without any real consideration of the fates of those children who were then declared mentally ill. These are true events in Canadian history that I found educational. This was also a Traveling Friends group read and the discussion was so rich. Thanks to that insightful group of women for making this an even more remarkable reading experience. I really enjoyed this story for the fictional aspects as well as the historical context, beginning in the 1950s. Maggie’s quest to find her daughter was frustrating and heartbreaking and Elodie’s never ending hope that she would find her family was what almost brought me to tears. Both women’s triumph in the midst of adversity was so admirable. Saskia Maarleveld was extraordinary in her narration, handling accents with perfection (as least to my ear) and making the characters come to life. I highly recommend the audio version and this story. It wasn’t always light but it was always honest. 4.5 stars

Wendy

October 30, 2018

Set in rural Quebec in the 1950's The Home For Unwanted Girls, by Joanna Goodman, is an incredibly well-written novel that is not a true story but is based on real life events. The author depicts a shameful part of Canadian history when the children of unmarried women were thought to bear sin, were sent to orphanages and then to asylum's because the nuns running these institutions were paid more to care for the mentally ill.Maggie Hughes is a teenage girl with an English father and a French mother. She falls in love with a French boy and faces an unwanted pregnancy at 15. She is forced to give up her newborn daughter Elodie who is sent to an orphanage.As Elodie's story unfolds her horrific experience and perspective is brought to light. Elodie's only wish is to be reunited with her mother, the mother that has been searching for her since the day she was born and taken away.An incredible story, beautifully written. The realities of our Canadian history are explained in detail heartbreakingly so! This story had me on such an emotional roller coaster that I couldn't put it down.

Paul

August 03, 2020

Another shocking page from the Roman Catholic Church’s history of genocide! Maurice Duplessis, the premier of Quebec from 1944 to 1959, and the Roman Catholic Church, Duplessis’ partner in fraud, corruption, child abuse and sexual assault, have a great deal to answer for.Joanna Goodman’s THE HOME FOR UNWANTED GIRLS is the heartbreaking, shocking, gripping, disgusting (and yet, somehow, still heartwarming and touching) tale of one woman’s search for the illegitimate daughter that she was forced by her parents, her society, her government and the misogynistic religious demands of her church to abandon to the ministrations of an orphanage system run by the nuns. And, if that wasn’t bad enough, Duplessis, during what is now called La Grande Noirceur (the Grand Darkness), arbitrarily designated these orphanages as homes for the mentally ill, locked down asylums if you will, in order to defraud the federal government of a higher level of per capita funding. For many children in these orphanages, that change simply meant the doors were locked, the key was thrown away and adoption was moved from a remote likelihood to an impossibility. Based in part on the story of the author’s mother, THE HOME FOR UNWANTED GIRLS is the fictionalized version of English-speaking Maggie Hughes’ pregnancy at age 15; the forced separation from her French-speaking boyfriend, Gabriel Phénix; the illegitimate daughter’s placement in an orphanage, subsequently converted to a home for the mentally ill; and the mother and daughter’s quest of almost two decades to find one another. I want to thank author Joanna Goodman for the opportunity to read what will not only rank as one of my all time favourite books but to learn about a piece of Canadian history of which I was totally unaware. As if the Roman Catholic Church’s genocidal participation in aboriginal residential schools wasn’t enough. Then we have the cover-up of the nuns and priests involved in the ongoing and only recently uncovered child abuse and sexual assault scandal. And now I’m shocked to discover that the Vatican has this to add to their list of crimes. I’ve reached the point where I can only suggest that ANY person who attends a Roman Catholic Church and makes a contribution to their coffers via the collection plate must accept complicity in these ugly crimes. The Roman Catholic Church MUST be made to answer for them.And if you are a Canadian who enjoys wonderfully well-written, absorbing historical fiction, you MUST read THE HOME FOR UNWANTED GIRLS. Brava to Joanna Goodman. Paul Weiss

K.A.

August 14, 2018

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The story is unique and the fact that it is based on true events of 1940s and 1950s Quebec makes it especially disturbing. While it’s not an easy read, it’s definitely worth picking up.

Elyse

December 08, 2020

Audiobook read by Saskia Maarleveld .... 9 hours and 59 minutesThere are over 1000 reviews written, so I’m not going to add another one other than to say I fall into the camp of those who gave it a four or five star rating. It’s a a compelling engaging book - choices made - consequences unfold - and moral questions are raised. I enjoyed it. The story kept me engaged easily. In the last half of the book I thought it was a little sloggy...—is that a word? 😙...But mostly, the audiobook can easily be devoured like candy. Oh, I have thoughts about which characters I wanted to punch in the belly from time to time.... but that’s what good books do — have us judging and evaluating different situations and scenarios. 4 stars from me! There are many wonderful reviews that will go further into detail about the plot, history, time period, the French and English strife, characters, etc. Thank you to the many readers who came before me and GoodReads....Your many great reviews convinced me that spending time with this book was worth it. It was!!!

Deacon Tom

March 02, 2021

A Smashing WinnerThis is an amazing story about people and families that rise from poverty and deal with incredible domestic problems in life. It’s based on a 1991 book about the miss treatment of infants in Quebec. Although it is fiction, many of the situations are exactly as they were found in those days and the names have been changed.The book really touched my heart in many different ways but especially in the end. A good summary is, “never lose hope”. Highly recommended by me

Suzzie

June 03, 2018

3.5* Was not a bad story at all but I honestly did not warm up to any of the characters except Elodie. Most of the other characters were not very likable. The writing was great but the characters I could not warm up to. I had pretty good expectations for this book because my grandmother said she loved it. But unfortunately the characters let me down for the most part. My quick and simple overall: good story and worth a read.

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