The Foundling: A Novel

This story is fictional, but as I read, I couldn’t help but think there were many true stories exactly like The Foundling. I had heard stories of the poor living conditions and mistreatment of children in group homes, (think Annie) and I believe this book has shone a light on the deplorable conditions. Brilliantly written and well researched, this story will remain within me and reside prominently on my shelf of favorites.

I decided to read THE FOUNDLING because of the eugenics theme. There was a shameful time in American history when most everybody agreed that the mentally ill should be sterilized or prevented from having children. Mary Engle is a young girl who takes a job at the Nettleton State Village for Feebleminded Women of Childbearing Age. She was raised in an orphanage and later lived with her aunt who was a prickly sort. She had been taking a stenography course and was given an opportunity to work with Dr. Vogel the superintendent of the village. Mary is in awe of the doctor. She was the only woman in her graduating class at the medical school she attended, and the doctor had been a suffragette and model for women in general. Mary eats in the same cafeteria as the dairy girls who milk and take care of a herd of cows. The village sells the milk to a local dairy. While eating she recognizes one of the girls. She thinks she’s Lillian Faust a “frenemy” from the orphanage. When she gets a chance to talk to Lillian she learns that Lillian was there because while married she had an affair and a child with a black man. Her husband put her in the asylum. Apparently this happened quite a bit. Gradually Mary learns that Dr. Vogel isn’t the pillar of society her reputation seems to indicate. The girls are sent out to work among the general population. They are paid but the money goes to the Village. In reality it goes to Dr. Vogel. Dr. Vogel also makes money selling medicinal alcohol in league with a local judge. She lives in a mansion. Eventually Mary decides to help Lillian escape. There’s a scene where everything goes wrong. Author Leary adds a snow storm, Mary’s boyfriend who’s supposed to help is arrested, and when Mary tries to leave, Dr. Vogel enlists her to help find Lillian who’s been reported as missing. You will smell a rat during the melodramatic ending. We also expect Dr. Vogel to be punished, not rewarded with a better job. You’d think the description of Building 5 would have precluded that from happening. That’s where misbehaving girls were sent, sort of solitary confinement. While Lillian was there she had a bucket of her own feces thrown in her face. If you think Ann Leary was writing fiction, check out a book on the eugenics movement from your local library. It was worse situation than what Leary shows.

Despite a grim subject, eugenics and the abuse of girls 100 years ago, this is a delightful and heartwarming book. We're a part of the protagonist's growth and story, from strong but gullible to strong and moving forward to do what is right. I rarely feel as though I like and know a character in a book, pulled into their story. Mary is an exception. All the characters are real and human, even the bad ones. Enjoy.

I found the story very interesting. But the writing style was bleak. Subject, verb, predicate…subject, verb, predicate. I usually reread well-crafted passages, but this was a speed read.

I have an interest in the now-properly-discredited of eugenics and looked forward to see how fictional storytelling could help people learn more about how anyone could have thought eugenics was a good idea. The Foudling unfolds at an institution in Pennsylvania where women designated as "feeble-minded" are warehoused through their reproductive years, after which they are put back into society. As it turns out some of the patients had no mental shortcomings but were committed just because someone, usually a husband, wanted the woman out of the way. Having read this much, you've learned most of what this book has to teach you about eugenics. The rest of the book is about a young woman, Mary Engle, working at her first real job and discovering that all is not what it seems with her boss or her place of work. Rather than being a necessary institution, the place is riddled with self-dealing, maltreatment of patients and cover-ups. As this story unfolds, the institution could be an orphanage, a prison or a mental hospital...in all cases, places where patient population numbers are important and patients generally are not. So, a warehouse for women is the scene and a young woman's discovery of her "grown-up" self, with a new sense of adult life is the centerpiece of the story. The scene is set and the story is told in a skillful, engaging way. What begins as a very-light "will a boyfriend find me" story gets details and complications layered on so, in my reading, I wanted to know what was next and how it would end. This womans' story is well-written and fine. Aside from its ghastly premise the book would make good beach reading. But, while at the beach you have to ignore the fact that similar "warehousing" of women is done now with implantable contraceptives, sometimes given with informed consent, but often not.

This book is a must read. It demonstrates how the law was used to dispose of sane but difficult young women. Leary's hero is resourceful and imaginative. Those of us who support the rightful treatment of women with justice should read this book. Well written also.

Eye opening fictional account of unheard of treatment of women who were considered unfit by almost anyone. Based on a true story of the treatment of those born to parents unwilling or unable to care for them. The story line was attention getting from beginning to end

This is a good story set within an interesting exposition of the popularity and acceptance of eugenics based institutions during the 1920s .

I selected this title on a whim. Enjoyed reading the author's note and how the story idea was sparked by personal family history. Mary, as the story's protagonist was a naive convent raised child and grated on my nerves. However, the parts on the eugenics program being run and how those in charge manipulated the narrative to get funding was interesting. Maybe I would recommend it.