The Foundling

Download or read book The Foundling written by Ann Leary and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2023-04-04 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Mary Engle has landed a rare job opporutnity for a young woman in 1927: a coveted secretarial position with room and board at a highly esteemed Pennsylvania institution--the Nettleton State Village for Feebleminded Women of Childbearing Age. Mary is immediately in awe of her employer--brilliant, charming Dr. Agnes Vogel. Dr. Vogel had been the only woman in her class in medical school. As a young psychiatrist she was an outspoken crusader for women's suffrage. Now, Dr. Vogel runs one of the largest and most self-sufficient public asylums for women in the country. Mary admires how dedicated the doctor is to the poor and vulnerable women under her care. Soon after she's hired, Mary learns that a girl from her childhood orphange is one of the inmates. Mary remembers Lillian as a beautiful free spirit with a sometimes fiery and unpredictable temperament, but she'd never considered her "feebleminded." Quite the opposite--Lillian had devised wonderful schemes that eluded the strictest nuns at the orphan home. Now Lillian begs Mary to help her escape, claiming the asylum is not what is seems--leaving Mary with a terrible choice. Should she trust her troubled friend with whom she shares a dark childhood secret? Or the wise, benevolent Dr. Vogel, who has high hopes for Mary's future? Mary's decision triggers a stunning sequence of events with life-altering consequences for all." -- page [4] of cover