I bought this book expecting it to concentrate on the fire in 1943 that occurred at St Joseph's Industrial School for Girls, Cavan.
Whilst it covers the fire and the aftermath in some detail it was a very pleasant surprise to find that it went much further and described the day to day life within St Joseph's up until time of its closure by the girls that had to endure it
The book is split into three parts. Part I describes the fire, the aftermath and investigation. Part II describes what life was like for the girls that where committed there. This part of the book includes an interesting chapter entitled "God help the poor orphans, they're not normal" where the authors have met up with the girls mentioned earlier in the book later in life. It is very moving to see how their lives have turned out by the time they had reached their early to mid thirties (the book was originally published in 1985). Part III looks at how the abuse was allowed to continue, who was responsible and what the various investigations and reports achieved.
For anyone with even a passing interest in Irish industrial schools this is a worthy addition to your library.