By: Brenda Davies
“Emotional wounds need the same amount of attention as physical wounds, but often we don’t give them that.”
Nora Jennings is 17 years old, with her life ahead of her. That is, until the consequences of one night of passion land Nora to be labeled as a “moral defective.” She wounds up in a mental institution and is treated with nothing but cruelty. More than 40 years later, psychiatrist Janet Humphreys takes in interest in Nora and her case. She believes that she can help Nora, and show her what it is like to live again.
This is a tough read. It is heavy topic, and the way that Nora is treated is absolutely horrifying. And when its coming from someone in the church? Terrible. But alas, that’s the way things were in 1939. It wasn’t until many years later did this get corrected. A lot of the scenes are heartbreaking due to the cruel treatment, but there is one beautiful, heartbreaking scene that made me cry. I am always interested in learning about historical things, so it was somewhat interesting. However, the book was slow moving, and not because of the topic. I thought the author focused to much on Janet’s personal matters in the second half of the book. I wanted the focus to be on Nora. I don’t know of any other books out there on this topic (doesn’t mean there aren’t any), but if there are, they may be better than this one.
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