| Description |
449 pages (large print) : 6 unnumbered pages of plates ; 22 cm |
| Physical Medium |
large print rda |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 429-445). |
| Contents |
Dorothy Soames -- Ghosts -- Secrets -- Scrutiny -- Bastards -- Running -- Admission day -- Hope -- Fear -- Longing -- Healing -- War and isolation -- Sustenance -- Escape -- Mothers -- Belonging -- Reunions and reckonings -- Love. |
| Summary |
"Justine had always been told that her mother came from royal blood. The proof could be found in her mother's elegance, her uppercrust London accent--and in a cryptic letter hinting at her claim to a country estate. But beneath the polished veneer lay a fearsome, unpredictable temper that drove Justine from home the moment she was old enough to escape. Years later, when her mother sent her an envelope filled with secrets from the past, Justine buried it in the back of an old filing cabinet. Overcome with grief after her mother's death, Justine found herself drawn back to that envelope. Its contents revealed a mystery that stretched back to the early years of World War II and beyond, into the dark corridors of the Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Young Children. Established in the eighteenth century to raise "bastard" children to clean chamber pots for England's ruling class, the institution was tied to some of history's most influential figures and events. From its role in the development of solitary confinement and human medical experimentation to the creation of the British Museum and the Royal Academy of Arts, its impact on Western culture continues to reverberate. It was also the environment that shaped a young girl known as Dorothy Soames, who bravely withstood years of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of a sadistic headmistress--a resilient child who dreamed of escape as German bombers rained death from the skies."-- Provided by publisher. |
| Subject |
Soames, Dorothy, 1932-2012.
|
|
Cowan, Justine -- Family.
|
|
Foundling Hospital (London, England)
|
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Foundlings -- Great Britain -- Biography.
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Abused children -- Great Britain -- Biography.
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Foundlings -- Great Britain -- Social conditions.
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Mothers and daughters -- California -- San Francisco -- Biography.
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Upper class women -- California -- San Francisco -- Biography.
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Orphans -- England -- Biography.
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Orphans -- Biography.
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| Genre |
Biographies.
|
|
Large type books.
|
| ISBN |
9781432887773 |
|
1432887777 |
|
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