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The Home for Unwanted Girls cover art

The Home for Unwanted Girls

Written by: Joanna Goodman
Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
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Publisher's Summary

Philomena meets The Orphan Train in this suspenseful, provocative novel filled with love, secrets, and deceit - the story of a young unwed mother who is forcibly separated from her daughter at birth and the lengths to which they go to find each other.

In 1950s Quebec, French and English tolerate each other with precarious civility - much like Maggie Hughes' parents. Maggie's English-speaking father has ambitions for his daughter that don't include marriage to the poor French boy on the next farm over. But Maggie's heart is captured by Gabriel Phénix. When she becomes pregnant at 15, her parents force her to give baby Elodie up for adoption and get her life "back on track".

Elodie is raised in Quebec's impoverished orphanage system. It's a precarious enough existence that takes a tragic turn when Elodie, along with thousands of other orphans in Quebec, is declared mentally ill as the result of a new law that provides more funding to psychiatric hospitals than to orphanages. Bright and determined, Elodie withstands abysmal treatment at the nuns' hands, finally earning her freedom at 17, when she is thrust into an alien, often unnerving world.

Maggie, married to a businessman eager to start a family, cannot forget the daughter she was forced to abandon, and a chance reconnection with Gabriel spurs a wrenching choice. As time passes, the stories of Maggie and Elodie intertwine but never touch, until Maggie realizes she must take what she wants from life and go in search of her long-lost daughter, finally reclaiming the truth that has been denied them both.

©2018 Joanna Goodman (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers

What listeners say about The Home for Unwanted Girls

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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Being Picky

I have listened to other books read by Maarleveld and enjoyed them. This one bothered me. The French accent was a French (France) accent - not at all a Québecois accent. Some place names were mispronounced - this got in the way of my enjoyment of the book. And a few details in the story (e.g. there were no streetcars or trams in Montreal after about 1959 - but one appears in the book at a later date) irked. This is an important story to tell so on the whole I liked the book, though I found the ending too pat.

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11 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Was a Little Disappointed

I was really hoping to like this book, but struggled to finish. I found it extremely hard to connect to any character and found the book was very all over the place and skipped to one event to the next.

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6 people found this helpful

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Language

The story line was good. Too long, too many chapters. The narrator made 2 mistakes that I noted , 1 - calling Rolland, ‘Ronald’ and at the end of chapter 46, Maggie gives a letter to Gabriel and says, “ask HER to read it HERSELF”. Gabriel is the male character.

The accents are very off. I can’t say I enjoyed the audio.

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5 people found this helpful

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heart breaking and beautiful

This historical fiction about Montreal in the 1950s is a complete page turner . The writing is amazing and the story, with its twists and turns had me hooked from the beginning.

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3 people found this helpful

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Compelling story about Quebec's dark history

This was my very first audiobook. I'm a new mom and couldn't find time to read a physical book so I decided to give #Audible1 a try. My book club had chosen The Home for Unwanted Girls. I downloaded the audiobook and listened on my drive to and from work. I was so intrigued by the story and I even made time at home to listen. It took me some time to get used to the french accents (minus 1 star), but nevertheless the story pulled me in. I did not know this was part of Quebec's history and it made me want to research more. And the most important thing: for the first time in a long time, I actually finished a book.

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Love story unimaginative

While Elodie's story moved me, her parents storyline was unimaginative and stereotypical. It would have been great if the love story was more developed.

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3 people found this helpful

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loved the book esp because its based on true facts. loved the narrators voice also thank you

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3 people found this helpful

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Great story, bad narrator

Great story! Some of the historical aspects were hard to hear about. But the narrator's accent in French really bothered me. It was not at all a Quebec accent and I had trouble enjoying the book as a result. In short, I'd suggest picking up the book and reading it instead of listening to the audiobook.

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2 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Non-bilingual reader

The story is about Les Orphelins de Duplessis, a well known historical drama that occured in the 50s, here in Québec. It is well written and so emotionnal! But the reader is so bad in french that it spoils some of the pleasure of "reading" it. It's a shame since so many people are bilingual in Québec, Canada.

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2 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Nuns as ogres...

I understand the author was trying to reveal and animate the horrific move to turn orphanages into asylums, and in that she was successful. They stereotypical depiction of the misguided father, mean mother and evil nuns was a bit overdone. The narrator did her best to present a French accent, but at times it was disconcerting, especially Gabrielle's raspy delivery. I lived in Quebec for years and I never actually heard an accent like that, Paris perhaps? The writing was a little rough in spots, too many dialogue tags for but one cannot help feel sympathy for Maggie and her situation and yet more sympathy for Elodie and her plight. The ending came quickly and a little too smoothly, but one can only hope it was close to actual fact. It made dog walking a little more enjoyable but it's not the kind of story that kept me up all night to turn the next page.

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1 person found this helpful