The Magdalen Girls

Dublin, 1962. Behind the gates of the convent of The Sisters of the Holy Redemption sits one of the city's Magdalen Laundries. These institutions began as places of refuge and have turned into harsh workhouses where women are confined and made to labour.

Sixteen-year-old Teagan Tiernan is sent there by her family after her beauty prompts a young priest to make a lustful confession. Some of the women inside are unwed mothers, prostitutes or petty criminals. Most are ordinary girls whose only offence was being too pretty, too independent, or attractive to the wrong man.

Teagan befriends Nora Craven, a new arrival who had believed nothing could be worse than the squalid tenement flat she came from. The girls lose their freedom and their names, and they are cut off from everyone outside. The Mother Superior, Sister Anne, who keeps secrets of her own, hands down cruel and dehumanizing punishments, always in the name of love.

The reclusive Lea becomes an ally to Teagan and Nora, helping them endure and then plan an escape. Freedom carries its own risk, though, because the world beyond the walls is dangerous for young women with ruined reputations.

This is historical fiction about institutional cruelty and the bonds between women who share it. It is told with candor and close historical detail, and its tone is serious, with moments of hope.