The horrors of the Irish industrial schools is made very plain in this autobiographical account of the author. She and her sister were taken out of their home when she was only eight years of age and forced to endure extreme hardships - apparently because her mother was not married. This took place in the 1950's and early 1960's. A must-read reality check for baby boomers.
I give this book five stars although it had several grammatical errors, because I simply couldn't put it down!
A nun once told Kathleen that her mother was more sinned against than sinning, and I couldn't agree more. This book had me in tears as I thought about how Kathleen's mother must have felt. She was a single mother who was doing a fine job raising her daughters. Although they were poor she gave her girls everything they needed. Her only crime had been to have children outside of marriage.
Many people who grew up in these industrial schools were robbed of their lifes potential. Like Kathleen they were brainwashed into believing that they were the lowest of the low. It's sad that so many children were abused in the name of God, and so many familys were torn apart for nothing more than being poor. They said Kathleens mother was destitute, yet her mother provided more for her daughters than the industrial schools ever had. This book will make you angry, and then it will make you cry, and when your finished reading it you will have an ache in your heart for the people who went through these institutions.
A nun once told Kathleen that her mother was more sinned against than sinning, and I couldn't agree more. This book had me in tears as I thought about how Kathleen's mother must have felt. She was a single mother who was doing a fine job raising her daughters. Although they were poor she gave her girls everything they needed. Her only crime had been to have children outside of marriage.
Many people who grew up in these industrial schools were robbed of their lifes potential. Like Kathleen they were brainwashed into believing that they were the lowest of the low. It's sad that so many children were abused in the name of God, and so many familys were torn apart for nothing more than being poor. They said Kathleens mother was destitute, yet her mother provided more for her daughters than the industrial schools ever had. This book will make you angry, and then it will make you cry, and when your finished reading it you will have an ache in your heart for the people who went through these institutions.
