Heedless. Stubborn. Disgraced. Small town Illinois, 1870: “My stepfather was not particularly fond of me to begin with, and now that he’d found out about the baby, he was foaming at the mouth”Desperate to avoid marriage, Nell Lillington refuses to divulge the name of her child’s father and accepts her stepfather’s decision that the baby be born at a Poor Farm and discreetly adopted.Until an … and discreetly adopted.
Until an unused padded cell is opened and two small bodies fall out.
Nell is the only resident of the Poor Farm who is convinced the unwed mother and her baby were murdered, and rethinks her decision to abandon her own child to fate. But even if she manages to escape the Poor Farm with her baby she may have no safe place to run to.
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It’s a good story but I did want it to end. I haven’t yet read the next in the series and I don’t know that I will
Poor couldn’t finish
I really enjoyed reading this book and have started the second book. Wonderful author.
Haunting in that this type of reaction was probably pretty close to real and in many aspects true still today. The lack of sex education I am sure leads to many many sad stories
I couldn’t put it down, read all 3 novels in the series.
Wonderful, creative writing
In “The House of Closed Doors” by Jane Steen we are taken to the small town of Victory, Illinois in the 1870″s. We meet 17 year of Nell (Eleanor) Lillington, her mother Amelia and her stepfather Hiram Jackson, an arrogant shopkeeper who is involved in government and expects to become Mayor of Victory. He wants Nell to meet a young man and get married but she does not want to get married. She does not want a man telling her what to do and how to do it. She goes on a picnic with her cousins and takes a walk with her cousin Jack. For the first time ever, she engages in heavy kissing and does not realize what Jack is doing to her. She becomes pregnant and refuses to name the father because she does not want to marry him. Her furious stepfather sends her to the Prairie Haven Poor Farm until she has her baby, gives it up for adoption and returns home. As soon as she arrives at the Poor Farm, a mentally handicapped young woman named Tess O’Dugan befriends her and does not leave her side. Nell has a talent for sewing and becomes assistant seamstress at the Farm. She has her baby, a tiny redheaded little person she names Sarah. She realizes that she loves Sarah and does not want to give her up for adoption. Her stepfather, one of the Governors of the Poor Farm, keeps writing to Mrs. Catherine Lombardi, the matron of the Women’s House, telling her to hasten Nell’s weaning of the baby so it can be given up for adoption. When they are cleaning out the locked house behind the Women’s House and getting it ready for new tenants, they find a dead mother and baby in a locked padded room. Nell now fears for her life and that of baby Rose. She decides that she must run away. She writes a letter to her good friend and neighbor Martin Rutherford telling him she fears for her life and must run away. He meets her, is surprised she has a baby and takes her to his house. Together they figure out how she can take Sarah and show her to her mother while her stepfather is away. She knows that since she is 17 and unmarried her stepfather can still have Sarah adopted. I could not put the book down and read it through the night because I wanted to know what would become of Nell and baby Sarah. I know other readers will love “The House of Closed Doors” as much as I have and will not be able to put it down either.
Felt like I was there. Very good read!
Wasn’t interesting, too slow
Good end. I really enjoyed the book
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Very hard to put down until the end. Action packed.
I’ve never read a Victorian era story before and almost didn’t after the first few pages but am quite glad that I got past that initial concern and read the book. Well written little gem that kept interest with its well developed characters and writing style. Not a book that will blow you away … but certainly enjoyable. Guess I will be reading more by this author. Recommend you give the book and/or this author a try.
Teenager Nell finds herself pregnant after a moment’s indiscretion in Victorian Illinois. Banished from her family home by her stepfather, Nell is sent in secret shame to the Poor Farm to give birth and give up her baby for adoption. Nell’s gentle, traditional mother is powerless to stop it. Feisty Nell discovers a mystery of the death and apparent murder of a young woman and her new baby. Nell’s investigations bring her very close to home. Realizing the women of her times are powerless to fight the domination by men, Nell is determined to work as a seamstress and stay as unencumbered as possible so she may direct her own destiny. “As a married woman, I would have been in bondage to one man; as an unmarried one, I was apparently in bondage to everyone else.”
Pitty, the story is not finished but goes on into next book, that I haven´t read. It´s tempting to spend money on… :o)
I liked the main character
i enjoyed this series. After reading the first book I ordered the other two because I enjoyed the characters. They were well rounded and interesting.
Nell Lillington makes a big teenage mistake and becomes an unwed mother. Unbelievable story of how her family handles it. Must read!!!
I really enjoyed this book, and recommend it.
I think this book has a lot of characters
Excellent story but I wasn’t to happy to have to buy the next book to find out the conclusion.