The Quintland Sisters
William Morrow Books
Harper Collins
ISBN 9780062839091
eISBN 9780062839114
ASIN B079WVZGQV
This is one of the summer reads for the book club at work. I recall watching a documentary on the Quintuplets many years ago, and that my maternal grandmother had some of the paraphernalia, she collected spoons and also memorabilia from the Royal’s, so this might have been a cross-over collection. I do not know.
This book was an interesting read. It has a strong historical basis but enough is switched up that a lot of research was needed to parse fact from fiction. Wood’s inserted a fictional character that cared deeply about the quintuplets. Woven in and among the story are numerous historical articles and records supporting the story.
Most of the story was fascinating to read, especially being a little familiar with the history. It was interesting following the journal entries, letters to and from, and the insertion of the actual historical records. It is so well written that at time it feels like biography not historical fiction.
The description of the volume is:
“For fans of Sold on a Monday or The Home for Unwanted Girls, Shelley Wood's novel tells the story of the Dionne Quintuplets, the world's first identical quintuplets to survive birth, told from the perspective of a midwife in training who helps bring them into the world.
Reluctant midwife Emma Trimpany is just 17 when she assists at the harrowing birth of the Dionne quintuplets: five tiny miracles born to French farmers in hardscrabble Northern Ontario in 1934. Emma cares for them through their perilous first days and when the government decides to remove the babies from their francophone parents, making them wards of the British king, Emma signs on as their nurse.
Over 6,000 daily visitors come to ogle the identical “Quints” playing in their custom-built playground; at the height of the Great Depression, the tourism and advertising dollars pour in. While the rest of the world delights in their sameness, Emma sees each girl as unique: Yvonne, Annette, Cécile, Marie, and Émilie. With her quirky eye for detail, Emma records every strange twist of events in her private journals.
As the fight over custody and revenues turns increasingly explosive, Emma is torn between the fishbowl sanctuary of Quintland and the wider world, now teetering on the brink of war. Steeped in research, The Quintland Sisters is a novel of love, heartache, resilience, and enduring sisterhood—a fictional, coming-of-age story bound up in one of the strangest true tales of the past century.”
The story is powerfully written. It is deeply moving. And the incident on the train was disturbing. Also the hints that the father or the doctor may have compromised one of the nurses earlier in the book ends up leaving a sour taste after finishing the read. There were parts of this that were fascinating to read, and some parts were really hard to read. It was unsettling. But also important to read.
It makes me think of some of the children who are used today on reality tv shows, social media, tik tok and other platforms; performing for likes and clicks, and donations, and the parents profiting. It feels like the lesson we should have learned from this story has been lost, and with the web and live streaming it has gone to a whole new level of exploitation.
I am glad I have read it, and look forward to the discussion during the book club. But I have picked up a biography to read at some point this fall to fill out the picture.
A solid 4 stars.
Books by Shelley Wood:
The Leap Year Gene of Kit McKinley
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