The Magdalen [Paperback]

In 1952 Dublin in the birthing room of the Sisters of the Holy Saints Magdalen Home for Wayward Girls and Fallen Women, between contractions Esther Doyle thinks back on how she ended amongst the abandoned. Esther knows that in spite of her family rejection due to her unmarried pregnancy and her lover's betrayal she is a good person. From western Ireland, since arriving in the grim place, she wonders if she will ever see the ocean with her child.

Esther has earned her room, board, and medical assistance doing laundry while waiting the birth. She knows her child will reside next door in the almost as grim orphanage, but at least the infant will have sustenance. However, she knows her unborn will receive little else as even the nuns reject the infant's innocence in spite their lofty calling. Still Esther has learned from her sister "Maggies" and dreams of a life for herself with her child outside this convent prison.

With the acceptance of out of wedlock children in recent years, THE MAGDALEN may seem obsolete, but instead, the novel is a powerful historical tale that sheds a light on 1950s morality. The story line brilliantly written in a first person dialogue enables the audience to feel all that Esther feels as she garners empathy from modern day readers to the plights of her and her soon to be born child in a world that condemns even the blameless. Marita Conlon-Mckenna provides fans of mid twentieth century historical novels with a juggernaut of a morality tale that is one of the genre's best in recent years.

Harriet Klausner

It is little wonder that this book was a number one bestseller in Ireland, as it deals with a shameful episode in its history, that of the Magdalen Laundries. Run by the Catholic Church, these were homes that were set up for "fallen" women. Originally set up for prostitutes, they devolved more into homes for unwed mothers. Young women, many of whom were teenagers, who found themselves unwed and pregnant, were often sent there by their families. They would then work in the adjacent laundry of the home until they gave birth, at which time the child would be removed to an orphanage and placed for adoption.

Many of these young women, called penitents by the Catholic Church, were often deserted by their families. They would then find themselves living a lifetime of servitude in the Magdalen Laundries for their transgression. That these laundries existed until 1996 is, in and of itself, scandalous and almost incomprehensible. This book gives a fictional account of such a woman. It is through her eyes that the reader sees the travesty that was known as the Magdalen Laundries.

Esther Doyle was one such woman. She lived an isolated life in rural Connemara, where she was forced by her father to leave school at an early age, in order to help her mother around the house, after her mother gave birth to mentally challenged child in 1944. An intelligent but naive young girl, Esther would spend her days helping her mother and taking care of her baby sister, Nora Pat. After her father disappeared one night, while fishing at sea, and was later washed ashore, having drowned, life became hard for the Doyle family. Yet, left penniless, they managed to survive.

In 1951, Esther, now a pretty teenager, met a young, handsome ne'er-do-well named Conor O'Hagan at a dance. As he was not a local, having just moved to Connemara from West Cork, her family viewed him with some misgivings. Still, Esther found herself in the throes of first love with this young man, only to later find herself pregnant by him and then betrayed, when she discovered that he was also seeing someone else whom he intended to marry.

Coupled with the fact that her younger sister, left momentarily unattended, died an unnecessary death, Esther's mother was less than sanguine about Esther's condition when it was discovered. Reviled by her mother and her brothers for the shame that her condition would bring upon the family, Esther was spirited away by her Aunt Patsy and sent to the Holy Saints Convent in Dublin. While there, she would work in its infamous Magdalen Laundry to earn her keep, while she awaited the birth of her baby.

At the Holy Saints Convent and its Magdalen Laundry, Esther would discover what hell on earth was. Harshly treated, given only the minimum of food necessary to survive, Esther would spend her days toiling in the hot, steamy laundry, along with other such women with whom she bonded in a unique sisterhood. Some of them were women who had spent their entire lives there. Some were the victims of rape and incest, while others were simply young, unwed mothers such as Esther. All were subject to the reign of terror orchestrated by the nuns who ran the Magdalen Laundry.

It is at the Magdalen Laundry, however, that Esther's world view is broadened. It is through her suffering at the hands of those whom she had supposed would have protected her that Esther truly comes of age. When her child is born, Esther comes to think of herself as a person independent of her family and finds the courage to realize for herself a vision of a new life. She envisions one outside the walls of the Magdalen Laundry and one beyond that of the family who had so cruelly renounced her in her hour of need.

This book is written is crisp, clear, terse prose, with little sentimentality. It is a straightforward story that has overtones of the melancholia that often permeates Irish Catholicism. For this book, such is simply fitting. This is a wonderful book that places one of Catholic Ireland's most shameful secrets on public display in a fictionalized setting that perfectly showcases it.

Those readers who are interested in this subject matter will also enjoy the film, "The Magdalen Sisters", which also fictionalizes life in the Magdalen Laundries. One should view it on dvd, because the dvd contains a heartbreaking British documentary, "Sex in a Cold Climate", which contains actual footage of the Magdalen Laundries and interviews of three survivors of the Magdalen Laundry experience.

Esther Doyle is unmarried and pregnant, in the rustic, rural town of Connemara. Her lover has jilted her at the first words of the unwanted pregnancy. Esther is left alone to deal with the scandal. However, the only people Esther expected help from, her family, are ashamed and resentful. Her mother and brothers banish her from the home, sending her to Dublin.

Esther's new home is The Magdalen Home for Wayward and Fallen Home. A laundry, run by nuns, is where she will earn her keep. When her nine months have passed, her baby will taken from her and given up for adoption. Esther and the other women work long, hard hours on their feet and are under the constant watch of the nuns. The women live the lives of prisoners. There is no recreation, no fun. The women are there to pay penance for their sins and ask God for forgiveness. However, these women, otherwise knows as "The Maggies" manage to form strong frienships. Their companionship allows Esther to fight her way out of a deep depression and struggle to reclaim her life. The Maggies help Esther to realize that her baby deserves a happy life and so does she.

I have read quite a few books about the famous "Magdalen Laundries" that were once popular in Ireland. Many are dark and depressing. However, The Magdalen, is slightly more uplifting than most. Of course, this is not exactly a happy story, but these laundries did exist and it is something that many people have never heard of.