From the New York Times bestselling author of The Good House, the
story of two friends, raised in the same orphanage, whose loyalty is put
to the ultimate test when they meet years later at a controversial
institution--one as an employee; the other, an inmate.
It's 1927 and eighteen-year-old Mary Engle is hired to work as a
secretary at a remote but scenic institution for mentally disabled women
called the Nettleton State Village for Feebleminded Women of
Childbearing Age*.* She's immediately in awe of her employer--brilliant,
genteel Dr. Agnes Vogel.
Dr. Vogel had been the only woman in her class in medical school. As a
young psychiatrist she was an outspoken crusader for women's suffrage.
Now, at age forty, Dr. Vogel runs one of the largest and most
self-sufficient public asylums for women in the country. Mary deeply
admires how dedicated the doctor is to the poor and vulnerable women
under her care.
Soon after she's hired, Mary learns that a girl from her childhood
orphanage is one of the inmates. Mary remembers Lillian as a beautiful
free spirit with a sometimes-tempestuous side. Could she be mentally
disabled? When Lillian begs Mary to help her escape, alleging the asylum
is not what it seems, Mary is faced with a terrible choice. Should she
trust her troubled friend with whom she shares a dark childhood secret?
Mary's decision triggers a hair-raising sequence of events with
life-altering consequences for all.
Inspired by a true story about the author's grandmother, The Foundling
offers a rare look at a shocking chapter of American history. This
gripping page-turner will have readers on the edge of their seats right
up to the stunning last page...asking themselves, "Did this really
happen here?"
