# The Secret Life of Dorothy Soames: A Memoir - Hardcover

by **Justine Cowan** (Author)

**"Far from growing up in the wealthy, fox-hunting circles she had always suggested, her mother had in fact been raised in a foundling hospital for the children of unwed women."** \-- **Editor's Choice, _The New York Times Book Review_**

**"Extraordinary ... fascinating, moving."** \--**_The Telegraph_**

**"This emotional and transatlantic journey is a page-turner."** \-- **Editor's Pick_, Amazon Book Review_**

**"Book groups will find as much to discuss here as they have with The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, and Educated by Tara Westover."** \-- _**BookList**_

Recommended by **_The New York Times_**, **_The Saturday Evening Post_**_, **Amazon Book Review**_, **_The Atlanta Journal Constitution_**, **_Publisher's Weekly_**, **_Kirkus_** and more, Justine Cowan's remarkable true story of how she uncovered her mother's upbringing as a foundling at London's Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Young Children has received acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. In the U.K., it has been featured in **_The Mail on Sunday_**_, **The Daily Mail**, **The Daily Mirror**_ and **_The Spectator_**. **_The Telegraph_** calls it "extraordinary and **_Glamour_** magazine chose it as the best new book based on real life.

The story begins when Justine found her often volatile mother in an unlit room writing a name over and over again, one that she had never heard before and would not hear again for many years - Dorothy Soames. Thirty years later, overcome with grief following her mother's death, Justine found herself drawn back to the past, uncovering a mystery that stretched back to the early years of World War II and beyond, into the dark corridors of the Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Young Children. Established in the eighteenth century to raise "bastard" children to clean chamber pots for England's ruling class, the institution was tied to some of history's most influential figures and events. From its role in the development of solitary confinement and human medical experimentation to the creation of the British Museum and the Royal Academy of Arts, its impact on Western culture continues to reverberate. It is the reason we read Dickens' _Oliver Twist_ and enjoy Handel's _Messiah_ each Christmas.

It was also the environment that shaped a young girl known as Dorothy Soames, who bravely withstood years of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of a sadistic headmistress--a resilient child whose only hope would be a daring escape as German bombers rained death from the skies.

Heartbreaking, surprising, and unforgettable, _The Secret Life of Dorothy Soames_ is the true story of one woman's quest to understand the secrets that had poisoned her mother's mind, and her startling discovery that her family's fate had been sealed centuries before.

**Number of Pages:** 320

**Dimensions:** 1.3 x 9.1 x 6.2 IN

**Illustrated:** Yes

**Publication Date:** January 12, 2021

## Details

- **Price:** 27.99 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 27.99 USD | In stock |

## Images

- The Secret Life of Dorothy Soames: A Memoir - Hardcover

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