This novel follows two women connected by blood and tragedy during the mid-twentieth century. In 1938 California, Rosie White is sent to a state institution after becoming pregnant, where she encounters the reality of the American eugenics movement and forced sterilization. Years later, her sister-in-law Helen travels to occupied Austria during World War II. Working as a nanny for a high-ranking Nazi official, Helen discovers the Am Spiegelgrund clinic and the regime’s covert program to eliminate children deemed physically or mentally imperfect.
Readers of historical fiction who prioritize accuracy regarding institutional history and government-sanctioned medical ethics will find this narrative informative. It serves those interested in the parallel development of eugenics in both the United States and Europe. The reader walks away with a clear understanding of how social policies targeted vulnerable populations and the specific ways internal resistance movements attempted to save individuals from state-mandated harm. It provides a detailed account of the human cost behind ideologies of genetic purity.
Clear-cut; an easy read.
Best for readers like The Curious Generalist. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2023
- Language
- EN
