Fifteen-year-old Ivy wanders home early
one morning to find her older sister, Mary Ella, having a baby. Even
worse, she's told by the social worker, Mrs. Werkman, that Mary Ella
has appendicitis so she'll have to have the baby in the hospital so
her appendix can be removed.
At fifteen, Ivy finds herself
virtually in charge of the family. Her grandmother, Nonnie, is
diabetic, but insists on eating sugar whenever she can get her hands
on it. No one knows who the father of Mary Ella's baby is, but
they're hoping it's not Eli, the black boy who lives with his family
in the other cabin on the Gardiner's tobacco farm. Ivy's only relief
are her meeting with Henry Allen, the son of the farm owner, and
people worry that she'll go too far and end up like Mary Ella with an
illegitimate child.
This is a story of the helplessness of
people on welfare, particularly children and young adults. They are
at the mercy of what the social workers thinks is appropriate, and
what she can convince the child's guardian to agree to. It's
chilling, particularly since the story is set in North Carolina in
the early sixties when the state ran a eugenics program to sterilize
those considered unfit.
Chamberlin did an excellent job showing
us likable people caught in a difficult situation. Although the
eugenics program was a bad idea, she shows it in an even handed way.
Some women benefited from the free sterilization. They didn't want
more children and the procedure allowed them to take better care of
their families. However, it crossed the line when dealing with young
women, some as young as twelve, eliminating all choice for their
future as wives and mothers.
I highly recommend this book. It's an
enjoyable read: well researched
and well written. Because the
characters are so real, it sticks with you and makes you think about
how giving an organization too much power leads to terrible abuse.
I reviewed this book for Net Galley.
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