***TOP TEN KINDLE BESTSELLER***‘Compelling. Poignant. Haunting. Heart wrenching. Just beautiful. Everyone needs to read this wonderful book.’ – Renita D’Silva, bestselling author of The Forgotten Daughter1939. Seventeen-year-old Nora Jennings has spent her life secure in the certainty of a bright, happy future – until one night of passion has more catastrophic consequences than she ever could … catastrophic consequences than she ever could have anticipated. Labelled a moral defective and sectioned under the Mental Deficiency Act, she is forced to endure years of unspeakable cruelty at the hands of those who are supposed to care for her.
1981. When psychiatrist Janet Humphreys comes across Nora, heavily institutionalised and still living in the hospital more than forty years after her incarceration, she knows that she must be the one to help Nora rediscover what it is to live. But as she works to help Nora overcome her past, Janet realises she must finally face her own.
Based on a true story, The Girl Behind the Gates is the raw, heart-breaking yet ultimately uplifting tale of a young woman cut down in her prime, and of the woman who finally brings her back to life, perfect for fans of The Girl in the Letter and Philomena.
Further praise for THE GIRL BEHIND THE GATES:
‘The Girl behind the Gates absorbed me from the start. A haunting, heart-wrenching but ultimately heart-warming novel told in beautiful prose and with great compassion and insight.’ – Gill Thompson, bestselling author of The Oceans Between Us
‘The Girl Behind the Gates is a powerful, emotional novel – harrowing in parts but always authentic and full of insights and compassion, and a sobering account of the best and worst of human nature. I was moved to tears by the ending and will certainly not hesitate to recommend it.’ – Jill Childs, bestselling author of Gracie’s Secret
‘A powerful story of trust, compassion, healing – and the transforming power of love, that can give new life to a broken spirit.’ – Sharon Maas, bestselling author of The Violin Maker’s Daughter
THE GIRL BEHIND THE GATES is touching so many readers’ lives…
‘The best book of the year. I read 125 books a year and this is the best I have read’ – 5 STARS
‘I can’t stop crying having just finished the book. It’s an incredible piece of literary genius’ – 5 STARS
‘A story that needs to be told’ – 5 STARS
‘An inspirational and very moving story’ – 5 STARS
’Just brilliant. I wholeheartedly recommend this book’ – 5 STARS
‘I hardly ever write a review but if you read one book this year this is it’ – 5 STARS
‘A very moving and heartbreaking story’ – 5 STARS
‘I would have given this book 10 STARS if I could’ – 5 STARS
‘This book is beautifully written and captivating in every way’ – 5 STARS
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The first part was very informative in regards to institutional life in the 40’s….. In pulls you in and entices the reader to find out how it will turn out for Nora.
It almost appears to be written by two different people as Part II is much less detailed and brings in issues and drama of the Dr’s life rather than, Nora’s, the girl behind the gate.
Hard to believe these things really happened.
This book is an incredible book. It will haunt me for a long time. How cruel we can be to one another!
First half was great. Second half gets more into the daily life of the doc who helped our “girl.” Not as interesting.
This book provides an excellent portrayal of the treatment of women during this time frame, Due to an unplanned pregnancy, this young girl was forced to leave her parents at a young age and treated cruelly by the nurses and other staff in a mental hospital. I highly doubt this young woman had a mental illness, but certainly developed one through the trauma she endured. I highly recommend this book.
This book is haunting and will touch your heart. It is about a young girl who is thrown into a insane asylum in 1939 for bring pregnant out of wedlock. She is treated as an imbecile and faced horrible abuse. Unbelievably, this is based on a true story. She is there for over 40 years when a psychiatrist enters her world and changes her life. Don’t miss this book.
I didn’t finish the book because the details of an insane asylum of this date I’ve read enough about: Such places were cruel, corrupt (often), and made no effort to treat the victims inside it, many of whom were not insane, merely inconvenient to someone.
So hard to believe (but do believe) this kind of “treatment “ thing went on for so long!
A look through the eyes of someone with such a tragic life. When you think life is giving you a raw deal, read this book and know what tragedy other people actually go through. So sad and yet read worthy. Loved this book from the very first page. It won’t disappoint
Incredible story, could not put it down!
I loved this book! Hard to read some parts because the story is so heartbreaking. Highly recommend it.
A gripping tale, unfortunately too true of the practices of mental health institutions of years ago. Not for the faint of heart.
This book is a must read for everyone who needs to know, whether they realize it or not, what kind of things that happened to women because men had all the power and society wrote them off. When people try to relive the “good old days” and force them on the rest of us, this tells what they were really like, in a way that brings an unflinching look as well as compassion, along with a grain of hope.
I could not put this book down and the fact that it was based on a true story made it even more readable for me!!!!! I will never forget this one.
In a way this is a horror story about how the mentally disabled or simply different minded were treated in the first half of the 1900’s. The worst part was how long it took to correct the habits mental institutions had developed. This story is about a young woman who was institutionalized for becoming pregnant out of wedlock and her incredibly long journey back.
This historical look at the inhumane treatment of women and mental health patients is graphically realistic. Both the perspective of the clinician and the victim are strikingly portrayed.
Sad
It is a sad story, but amazing that this could happen. It shows how people thought in different times.
This was a sad story that makes you wonder how it could have happened. Sometimes it was hard to read but I wanted to see how it turned out.
I liked the book a lot and was glad to see that things were able to turn out positively even after so many sad years. The best part was that the story tied up the loose ends.
Beautifully written