The House Children

The House Children: A Novel | Heidi Daniele

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Review is up on my blog. This is unique!

https://reecaspieces.com/2021/11/04/the-house-children-by-heidi-daniele-orangesk...

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Jess_Franzino

The House Children: A Novel | Heidi Daniele

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First book finished in my #24B4Monday stack, & it was a total surprise in the best of ways. I decided to read this on my Kindle as a “bedtime” book after the lights were out. I ended up both starting & finishing today in the span of about 3 hours. Though a quick read, it is loaded with history & doesn‘t fall into the trap a trap of being either tragedy porn or overly sappy, like others in it‘s genre tend to. It was very real. Very human. 5/5

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Jess_Franzino

The House Children: A Novel | Heidi Daniele

An understatement at the very least! In the comments section are just a few things I‘ve learned from this book about the life of women in 1940s Ireland, where the laws of the Catholic Church dictated the laws of the government.

YES, it was so terrible and there was SO much that I legit have to list everything I‘ve learned thus far in the comments section due to character limits. I‘m still at 66%, so there‘s likely more: #24B4Monday

Jess_Franzino 1.) It was illegal to have a child out of wedlock. Unmarried pregnant women were not even allowed to give birth in regular hospitals, rather they were sent to special homes for unwed mothers & then had to do penance for their sins, locked away, for at least a year. 5y

Jess_Franzino 2.) It was also illegal for an unwed mother to keep her child, even if she married the father of said child later on. The children were either adopted outside of Ireland or, more often, boarded in an industrial school. 5y

Jess_Franzino 3.) Being born illegitimate made the children into second class citizens from the moment they were born , with little chance for upward mobility. They weren‘t allowed education beyond primary, and after would be sent out to work menial jobs (servants, laundry, etc.) 5y

Jess_Franzino 4.) And, one final thing that was illegal: A woman holding a job outside of the house once she was married. 5y

Jess_Franzino 5.) And yet another, less than one page after I made this post: Taking an unwed mother into your home & keeping her safe from having to endure the Magdalene Laundries and having her child taken from her. 5y

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Jess_Franzino

The House Children: A Novel | Heidi Daniele

The “boarders” being referred to are students from the Secondary School run by the Sisters of Mercy. I attended a Sisters of Mercy Secondary School, too, and the description of the uniform is nearly identical to what mine was. Apparently, not much change in the uniforms regardless if it‘s 1940s Ireland or early 2000s Connecticut 😂

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