The sudden death of Kitty Murphy's mother sends Kitty and her younger sisters, Hannah and Ruth, to an orphanage in St. John's. Their brother is allowed to stay home because "boys earn and girls cost." The next seven years are a test of endurance as they cope with brutality from a cruel, self-righteous nun and the bullies who curry the Sister's favour. Kitty tries her best to protect her younger sisters in this unpredictable environment. The 1940s in Newfoundland offered very little to a woman. source
Places
- Set atBelvedere Orphanage (St. Michael's Convent and Orphanage), Bonaventure Avenue↗
Publisher synopsis and The Seaboard Review identify the historic Belvedere Orphanage as the setting; Heritage NL confirms the building's location on Bonaventure Avenue.
Flanker Press product page; The Seaboard Review (Ed Janzen); Heritage NL Building Preservation Brief — source
