“A historical novel that will enthrall you… I was utterly captivated…” — Joanna Goodman, author of The Home for Unwanted Girls
AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
For fans of Sold on a Monday or The Home for Unwanted Girls, Shelley Wood’s novel tells the story of the Dionne Quintuplets, the world’s first identical quintuplets to survive birth, told from the perspective of a midwife in training who … quintuplets to survive birth, told from the perspective of a midwife in training who helps bring them into the world.
Reluctant midwife Emma Trimpany is just 17 when she assists at the harrowing birth of the Dionne quintuplets: five tiny miracles born to French farmers in hardscrabble Northern Ontario in 1934. Emma cares for them through their perilous first days and when the government decides to remove the babies from their francophone parents, making them wards of the British king, Emma signs on as their nurse.
Over 6,000 daily visitors come to ogle the identical “Quints” playing in their custom-built playground; at the height of the Great Depression, the tourism and advertising dollars pour in. While the rest of the world delights in their sameness, Emma sees each girl as unique: Yvonne, Annette, Cécile, Marie, and Émilie. With her quirky eye for detail, Emma records every strange twist of events in her private journals.
As the fight over custody and revenues turns increasingly explosive, Emma is torn between the fishbowl sanctuary of Quintland and the wider world, now teetering on the brink of war. Steeped in research, The Quintland Sisters is a novel of love, heartache, resilience, and enduring sisterhood—a fictional, coming-of-age story bound up in one of the strangest true tales of the past century.
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I have heard of the Dionne Quints but didn’t realize how the sisters were put on display like zoo animals and the money that was made from their existence. This is a heartbreaking and hard to put down debut novel. I ended up doing some research of my own to read about their lives after the book ended.
Beautiful true story of strength of loving hearts.
Unbelievable that this could happen to a family.
I loved this interesting book on the five identical quintuplets born in Canada.
This is really interesting!
I enjoyed reading this book because it told a great true story of the first quints born in Canada.
Good historical fiction highlighting how unintentionally cruelly the Dionne Quints were treated.
So much info about the Dionne Quints that I never knew. Very interesting! Amazing to read how something so unique, especially in that time period was institutionalized!
This is well written and clever re-creation of the early years of the Dionne quintuplets. The true story was preserved well in a fictionalized structure as to be completely believable. I remember reading about the sisters in their later years and it was heartbreaking.
Very repetitive. Focused too much on infant and toddler years.
Didn’t know that much about the Dionne quintuplets, but glad I read this fictionalized account about their first years by a nanny. It sparked my interest to find out more. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good story.
A new look from an interesting viewpoint of the early years of the Dionne quintuplets.
I found this book fascinating! Five identical babies!! Born in rural Canada!! Raised by the government!! I couldn’t get enough! Great read!
The world simply couldn’t get enough of the Dionne quintuplets, who were born in rural Ontario on May 28, 1934. Early visitors included the likes of Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, and Amelia Earhart. In fact, three million visitors paid Yvonne, Annette, Cécile, Émilie, and Marie a visit in the first decade of their life: the Dionne quintuplets and their province-built nursery, along with the good doctor, Dr. Dafoe, who was essentially raising them in this fish bowl, brought more than $50 million in tourist dollars into Ontario’s coffers. “Quintland” and all things quintuplet became known, surpassed even Niagara Falls as a tourist attraction.
It is this aura of sensationalism that Shelley Wood seeks to capture in The Quintland Sisters. For this fictional account of the quints earliest years, based wholly but not exclusively in fact, Wood creates a nurse’s assistant, if you will, in 17-year-old Emma Trimpany, who was present for the birth by way of assisting the midwife and then, as other caregivers come and go, remains at her station for the next five years.
The account of Quintland, the tug-of-war between the Dionnes and Dr. Dafoe, and that intervention by the state is fascinating. Wood’s notes at the end describe her research, and it shows. This was a quick read, and an enjoyable one, right up to the end (on both counts). Unfortunately, the absolute end felt to me that it belonged in another book altogether. Without giving away the ending, I can say absolutely that I never I expected it, that I didn’t understand it, and that the last 20 or 30 pages seemed entirely extraneous and their inclusion utterly perplexing.
Most of the book would be 4 stars, but when I factor in the ending, I land somewhere between 2 and 3. I enjoyed reading about the Dionnes (I was inspired to do a bit or research of my own after finishing this book), but as a reader, I just can’t get behind The Quintland Sisters in its entirety…
(This review was originally published at https://www.thisyearinbooks.com/2019/11/the-quintland-sisters.html)
Interesting story of the quints told in a novelized way. Well researched.
I remember my grandma telling me about the Quints. They always felt sorry the the family and the babies. I used You Tube to see the quints. It’s a book that is one of a kind.
Never knew the real story on how the girls were raised. Interesting but sad life for the girls.
Learned a lot, from the caretakers point of view!
I liked it!
I thought it a true story but it was not.
I have followed the Dionne Quintuplets since I was small. This book was one of the most informative and interesting books I’ve read on the girls. Thank you for this.