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The secret life of Dorothy Soames, a foundling's story, Justine Cowan

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 299-304)

individual biography

platesillustrationsportraits

no index present

non fiction

The secret life of Dorothy Soames

bibliography

Justine Cowan

a foundling's story

Justine had always been told that her mother came from royal blood. The proof could be found in her mother's elegance, her uppercrust London accent -- and in a cryptic letter hinting at her claim to a country estate. But beneath the polished veneer lay a fearsome, unpredictable temper that drove Justine from home the moment she was old enough to escape. Years later, when her mother sent her an envelope filled with secrets from the past, Justine buried it in the back of an old filing cabinet. Overcome with grief after her mother's death, Justine found herself drawn back to that envelope. Its contents revealed 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

adult