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The secret life of Dorothy Soames : a memoir / Justine Cowan.
Van Pelt Library HQ755.86 .C69 2021
Available
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- Cowan, Justine, author.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Cowan, Justine--Family.
- Cowan, Justine.
- Foundling Hospital (London, England).
- Mothers and daughters--Biography.
- Mothers and daughters.
- Soames, Dorothy, 1932-2012--Childhood and youth.
- Soames, Dorothy.
- Orphans--England--Biography.
- Orphans.
- Abused children--England--Biography.
- Abused children.
- Girls--Institutional care--England.
- Girls.
- Foundling Hospital (London, England)--History.
- Families.
- Girls--Institutional care.
- History.
- England.
- Genre:
- Biographies.
- Autobiographies.
- History.
- Physical Description:
- 304 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm
- Edition:
- First edition.
- Place of Publication:
- New York, NY : Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, [2021]
- Summary:
- Documents the author's investigation into her late mother's tragic experiences as an illegitimate orphan who endured an early life of discrimination, physical abuse and harsh labor serving England's ruling class at London's infamous Foundling Hospital.
- Cowan had always been told that her mother came from royal blood. After her mother's death, she opened an envelope filled with secrets of her mother's past-- secrets that led into the dark corridors of the Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Young Children. Dorothy Soames' experiences there-- years of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of a sadistic headmistress-- created a resilient child who dreamed of escape. Here Cowan makes a startling discovery that her family's fate had been sealed centuries before. -- adapted from jacket
- 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.
- Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 299-304).
- ISBN:
- 9780062991010
- 0062991019
- OCLC:
- 1228823883
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