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The Home for Unwanted Girls

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The Home for Unwanted Girls

Written by: Joanna Goodman
Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
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About this listen

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 Phénix. When she becomes pregnant at 15, 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 17, 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.

©2018 Joanna Goodman (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers
Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Women's Fiction Heartfelt Tearjerking France
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What listeners say about The Home for Unwanted Girls

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A very good & moving story

I picked this book knowing I like the narrator and interested in the synopsis - very glad I did.

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Good but a little rushed

Felt a few details were skipped over and the story rushed ahead but generally a good but tragic story. Makes you feel angry along side the daughter. would have liked to see the nuns get theirs! Can never tell if characters are supposed to be speaking French.

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Must read!!

This was ultimately the best book I have ever come across. Great story about love, regret, family and strength. Bravo Joanna Goodman!

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It really hits home being part French Canadian.

The characters in this story could be anyone of my Aunts or Uncles. There were so many hardships for the poor french canadians... And so many influences because of church and government.
My family is still trying to find each other and put back all the pieces.

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Quebec in 1950's

As someone who lived in Quebec during this time, it reminded me of many girls who left school and we didn't know where they went.

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want a good a listen this is the book

very Easy to listen to and follow A very touching story close to home, makes you feel lucky for all you have!!

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Probably the best audio book I heard

The story is amazing & truly enjoyed the narrative . I felt like it was told by the real characters.

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Sad Story

This was a sad story, and it's amazing to me that these things occured in our recent history. This book was overall very good, however, I would have like the ending to be longer. It's easy to get emotionally attached to the characters in the book and the writer does a great job of sucking you into their lives. This book balances political and religious views with the effect that these two things have on every day people very well. I do think that Elodie could have had more parts in this book, the book is. after all, called "The Home for Unwanted Girls" yet you don't hear all that much about the actual home. Just bits and pieces throughout the book. All in all this is a story of a family, that goes through some of the hardest things one can imagine, and there is still a light at the end of the tunnel. The story is about fate and the everlasting bonds of family and blood.

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I couldn't turn it off near the end.

Great book! Captivating story, with many twists and surprises. I loved it and couldn't *put it down*

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couldn't stop listening

loved this book full of fact and fiction. a powerful story about a quebecois family and duplessis' horrible decision to convert orphanages to asylums in the 50s.

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