'I read Bessborough in one sitting, veering from fury to devastation
within a matter of pages. A vitally important book.' Louise O'Neill
'Vivid and powerful' CAELAINN HOGAN
'I loved this book for its sheer honesty' CATHERINE CORLESS
**'A powerfully important book that demands to be read' Irish
Examiner
**
For over seventy years, Bessborough House, a grand country mansion on
the outskirts of Cork city, operated as one of Ireland's biggest mother
and baby institutions. Women and girls who walked up its stone steps
were warned never to reveal their true identities and gave birth to
babies they would not be allowed to keep.
In Bessborough: Three Women. Three Decades. Three Stories of Courage,
a trio of remarkable women confined there in the 60s, 70s and 80s, tell
their truths. Their vivid accounts take us right inside the walls of the
secretive institution and give us a deep insight into how their
experiences impacted their lives afterwards.
The result is a stark portrait of a system that split families apart --
and a moving account of love, loss and reconnection.
'Bessborough will break many a heart. Deirdre Finnerty tells the
three stories with compassion, empathy and precision, resulting in an
emotionally devastating, vital book' IRISH TIMES
