The Girl Behind The Gates by Brenda Davies is an absolutely heartbreaking novel. It is the true story of Nora who was incarcerated in a mental hospital in 1939, and was still there in 1981 when a new psychiatrist, Janet, began to work there.
This is a book of two halves. Nora’s early story in the first part, and her story as she interacts with Janet in part two.
This is a story that will shock and horrify the reader because it is true. It happened. This Nora’s story.
Nora had a home, not a particularly loving one, as her father was a bully.
In 1939 Nora fell in love as a seventeen year old and became an expectant unmarried mother. For a Catholic family, ruled with an iron rod, this was an unforgiveable sin. Nora is continually told that she is bad, and it is a lie that she tells herself. “Her mother does still love her, even though she’s wicked.” Nora is incarcerated in order to ‘pay’ for her ‘sin’.
The modern reader is shocked and horrified by the treatment of the patients – six hundred in 1939 in just one institution. This book should make us both justifiably angry, and very sad for the innocent lives locked away. In 1939 we read that “Such people [unmarried expectant mothers], since 1927 termed ‘moral defectives’, include those such as criminals, alcoholics and prostitutes – and also unmarried mothers.” This is beyond horrifying. It is appalling that innocent lives were hidden away for decades. That young girls were seen as infected with sin, and that they could infect others and also pass their ‘sin’ onto their baby. It is truly shocking to read of what happened at the birth of Nora’s baby.
Within the hospital there was much cruelty but also pockets of kindness. “It doesn’t mean you are wicked… This is terrible. I don’t think God wanted any of this to happen just because you made a slip.” Nora is unused to kindness and even “feels abandoned by God.” Her family and the church have let her down. God does not condemn her. God loves Nora.
There is only one way to cope. “Day after day merely trying to survive… She manages to cope by being numb.” Hundreds of women are locked inside themselves. Some, so deep, that they will never emerge again. In order to survive they have done what they are told, when they are told – or they will suffer dreadful inhumane consequences.
Only in 1981, with a new staff member, Janet, is Nora finally ‘seen’ and told “deep inside yourself you have a voice.”
Years of institutionalism cannot be undone in just a few sessions. It will take years of kindness and building up trust, care and compassion.
This is a book that will have you reaching for the tissues, while simultaneously being angry and appalled at the dreadful treatment endured by many for so long.
This is a book that needs to be read in memory of Nora, and the thousands like her, who did nothing wrong – but men locked them away and never looked back.
This is a powerful story of one woman’s belief that she might not be able to save everyone, but she could start by helping one woman at a time.
I received a free copy. A favourable review was not required. All opinions are my own.

This is a heartbreaking book. It details how people were treated in times gone by especially women.
A beautifully written but harrowing and emotional book 📚

Emotional but brilliant. Really enjoyed the plot and characters. Looking forward to reading more from the author in the future.

This story was both horrifying and fascinating. The rage I felt on Nora's behalf was very real, because her pain and powerlessness were captured so perfectly. I did feel that in the second part of the book, Janet's story stole the focus when I really wanted to hear more from Nora's perspective as an adult. Janet is still interesting, but I think the narrative could have been a little more balanced between them. This is an incredible story overall, though.

Thank you to NetGalley, Hodder & Stoughton, and Brenda Davies for the ARC.

This is a great historical fiction novel, with lots of detailed characterisation and so much emotion! I would definitely recommend it to others!

Wow! There are no words to describe how this book made me feel. Well, there are...but where to start? THE GIRL BEHIND THE GATES is compelling, haunting and chilling in the first half while poignant, raw and redeeming in the second half. Like the two halves, it is divided into two parts that each tell a different story of the same journey. It is heartbreaking and harrowing but so completely touching by its end.

I have long been familiar with the archaic concept of committing young women who find themselves pregnant out of wedlock to mental asylums and while in today's society we cannot comprehend such treatment, it was once a common occurrence. One has to remember that psychiatry was a relatively unknown field and the treatments given were pretty much all they knew, however that was no excuse for some of the treatment and abuse dealt out to patients for no reason whatsoever but to exert a sense of power. This story is a fictional account based on actual events of an idealistic and privileged young girl who finds herself in the most harrowing of circumstances through which most of us could probably never survive.

1939: Seventeen year old Nora Jennings is in love. She also has a secret. Finding herself pregnant by her cousin Robert, Nora tries to hide her growing stomach from her strict father who thinks nothing of beating her into submission and obedience. Upon discovering her condition, her parents call upon the local priest and family GP who, after a humiliating examination to ascertain the pregnancy, then drag her from the house, her parents giving her no backward glance, and is taken to Hillingsworth hospital known as the local mental asylum where she is sectioned under the Mental Deficiency Act of 1913.

Diagnosed as morally defective, Nora is then subjected to the harsh realities behind the walls which had until then seemed a surreal fantasy. She receives no visitors but for the family housekeeper, Mrs Lampeter, who doted on Nora like a mother and whom Nora loves like a mother. When her baby is born, as Nora is deemed morally defective any offspring she produces is regarded as such also, and so the cruel and nasty Sister Cummings leaves the little girl naked to die in the sluice room. Nora never even got to hold her baby or even know of its sex.

As the years progress, Nora makes a sort of peace with herself and is comforted by the thought that her baby was adopted and grew up feeling loved. But a shocking revelation brought the horrible truth crashing down sending Nora into a downward spiral from which she intended never to recover. That is, until a kind and caring doctor on her ward made it his mission to look out for her and upon learning of her catatonic state, attempted to bring her back from the brink. And yet despite this, the cruelties and harsh treatments doled out to the patients of Hillingsworth, Nora continued to suffer more indignities as every basic human right that we all take for granted was taken away from her bit by bit.

1981: Although she has the ability to fix others' fractured lives, psychiatrist Janet Humphreys' own personal life is in disarray. She works long hours, is never home and even when she is she is absent, leaving her husband feeling unloved and unwanted. In an act of desperation, he leaves her and despite this, Janet soldiers on. She has to. She has patients who depend on her. And one of them is Nora Jennings who, after over forty years at Hillingsworth, is completely institutionalised. Although life became easier in the later years when Sister Cummings was dismissed, Nora simply found it is easier to succumb to whatever was asked of her.

When Janet comes across Nora's case file, she is intrigued. She meets Nora in the hospital's "back ward" of long forgotten patients who have been there for decades. At first Nora is silent, apprehensive and untrusting. After all, the only people she had any form of contact with were cruel and abused their authority, aside from a handful of nurses who were at least kind. And Dr Stilworth who always stood up for her and helped her when all others took away any liberties she may have had. But then he retired.

Now there is this new doctor...and Nora is unsure whether she can trust her. Because anyone she places her trust in usually leaves her in the end. Joe did, Patty did, Dr Stilworth, even her parents...and Robert. Can she trust this Dr Janet? Or will she betray her too?

THE GIRL BEHIND THE GATES is a harrowing tale of one woman's journey cruelly snatched from her privileged life and thrown into a life of abuse and torture at the hands of those who are meant to be caring for her. Deemed morally defective because she fell pregnant at 17 and was unmarried...as if no one else was to blame for the consequence of the act that creates a baby. Not only that, but any offspring she produces would therefore be also considered morally defective by the defective gene passed down from her mother. What rot! It angered me to read such rubbish but angered me even more that this was a fact that people actually believed. And sadly, as psychiatry was a relatively unknown field at the time, doctors simply had to go with what they knew...and this is what they knew. It was all the tools they had at the time. But that's not the only angering part of this story. It's the harsh treatment of patients, or inmates as they were often referred to like they were prisoners...and they were in a sense, because they could never escape the walls that bound them there. As if beating a patient and calling her a whore who deserved everything she got wasn't bad enough, but the wet wraps they were subjected to...for simply grieving a loss! It's barbaric. Wet wraps are a form of torture and it was heartbreaking to read that such treatment existed...and for what purpose?

Four decades of abuse, torture, humiliation and loss. Four decades of isolation, grief and adversity. Four decades of such harsh treatment it's not surprising Nora was well and truly institutionalised. But when Janet enters the story in 1981, she brings with her hope and in the journey that follows highlights Nora's resilience, her stoic endurance and her survival against all odds.

THE GIRL BEHIND THE GATES is a heartbreaking read that is harrowing and chilling at times but shines a ray of hope on even the harshest of circumstances. I doubt I could have lived through and survived all that Nora had done and yet she did...and though the scars remained, her ability to rise above her trauma is inspiring.

Horrifying, shocking and compelling, THE GIRL BEHIND THE GATES is a heartbreaking yet beautiful story with which one will need tissues. And plenty of them. I could not stop the tears from falling as I read of Nora's harrowing treatment and the rejection of her basic human rights. What also angered me was that the country was at war with Germany over the Hitler's discardment of human rights and yet here they were stripping an innocent woman of the same. It defied logic. And another thing that annoyed me was that Robert could have intervened due to his authority and yet he didn't. Nora had no one. She was stripped of everything she had and was left to rot in Hillingsworth until Janet reached out and allowed her to see her true worth.

While Janet's personal life was an aside to the main story, I felt it paled in significance to Nora's journey and, while others failed to see whether it played a part or not, for me it showed that not only are psychiatrists human but the point that the author made at the beginning in her "Author's Note" was that Nora taught her and inspired her a great deal as well. In my view, Janet was inspired by Nora and her strength to make peace with her own past and the issues that plagued her marriage. It was Nora who gave her that.

A very powerful story, THE GIRL BEHIND THE GATES is not one I will forget in a hurry. I loved it, I hated it and I was moved by it entirely. Thank you to Brenda Davies for telling Nora's story...a story that needed to be told because as is the case with history - its purpose is for us to learn from, to remember and to never let it happen again.

I would like to thank #BrendaDavies, #Netgalley and #HodderAndStoughton for an ARC of #TheGirlBehindTheGates in exchange for an honest review.

I had hoped to enjoy this book but it wasn’t to be the case.

I got past the 50% point and just realised that I couldn’t go any further, the story was good but it was very horrific, shocking and upsetting in places. A lot of readers may find this sort of book difficult to read given the subject matter, the topics that are dealt with and the scenes that we read, and to think that this is based on a true story. Just doesn’t bare thinking about.

I will say this though, this story has been very well written, well the parts that I read anyhow, and the fact that this is a debut book by the author, says a lot, just how talented she is and how involved she can get with her characters.

I may not have been able to finish this book, but I will be looking forward to seeing what future books she writes and gets published.

I can't help it, sometimes the books that were most impressive are the hardest ones to write a review. The Girl Behind the Gates is definitely on my books-that-matter shelf. Very well-developed characters, makes you wonder how all of this could have happened...

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of the book.

Wow, what a heart rending debut novel. It was a wonderfully told and informative story that we should all read. I recommend you read this with a box of tissues!

I was given a copy of The Girl Behind the Gates by Brenda Davies by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The story is based on a true story although fiction has been added to expand the story. When Nora falls pregnant as a unmartied mother she is sent to the a asylum. What happened to Nora while she was there makes hard reading but it is also a story of hope. A very good read, definitely worth reading.

Based on a true story, The Girl Behind the Gates is a shocking tale of life in a mental hospital.

It is almost inconceivable that a young girl could be institutionalised for 50 plus years just for becoming pregnant before marriage. Nora’s treatment was barbaric and the book does not shy away from difficult descriptions.

The second part of the book is more positive and cover’s Nora’s eventual release. Her relationship with her therapist, Janet is well described and you are rooting for Nora all the way through. I was rather hoping that she would make contact with Robert, or other family members but as this is based in fact I can only surmise that Nora did not wish to reach out on her release.

All in all this is a well written account of a difficult and traumatic life, with a thankfully positive ending. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for my copy of this book.

What can I say regarding this book, well,
I came across this book on Netgalley, and I'm so glad I did, this is a heartbreaking true story, thought provoking and a thoroughly engrossing read. It will stay with you for a long time and I recommend that you read it.

WOW! 5 stars for this novel!! The fact that this is a debut novel is astounding. The writing is so beautiful and compelling. The book takes place right before 1940. 17-year-old Nora finds herself pregnant, and being a different time and different situation than our current times, the things that Nora has to endure are absolutely heartbreaking. I was riveted by this book and cried several times throughout it. What an emotional, traumatic and engrossing novel. I loved it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton

Good book. Heartwrenching details of what life in a mental institution used to be like and the torment inflicted on the patients. I was hoping that Nora could reunite with Robert, the ending was satisfying just the same. Great depiction of the times, and the characters as well.

A harrowing account based on a true story, <i>The Girl Behind the Gates</i> chronicles the life of Nora Jennings, a 17-year-old girl institutionalised as "morally deficient" in 1939 for the dire crime of falling pregnant outside of wedlock. Reminiscent of similar accounts set in Magdalene Laundries and related institutions, it's a difficult story to read at times, outlining in no uncertain terms the horrible shortcomings of mental health care in the early-to-mid 20th century, and how it particularly othered and punished women. (Nora is subjected to all manner of intra-institution abuse encompassing everything from physical to mental to sexual abuse, ill-advised pseudo-medical "treatment" and constant neglect).

The structure of the novel is split into two parts, the first dealing with Nora's initial apprehension as a "fallen woman" and involuntary commitment to a mental institution, the second focusing on the psychiatrist who tries to help Nora prepare for non-institutionalised living over 40 years later. The latter part is set in the early 80s, so even the practices considered modern at that time still read less than ideal at times. It's, all around, a really tough read, not just because this one case was based on real events but also because there were so many like it.

That said, I found myself wondering more than once whether this story was really best served as fiction. It is a debut novel written by the psychiatrist who treated the "real Nora", and I think that does show in the writing. At times, the story reads like a dramatised article about an actual case, with lots of side characters used as obvious mouth pieces to launch into lengthy side bars and proselytise about the history of now-defunct mental health approaches and outdated treatment methods in mid-to-post-war Britain. At other times, when the author tries to delve more deeply into her characters' own perspectives, the writing topples sideways into lots of purple prose and exposition, sentimentality and way too much florid nature-based description, which does the very real horror of experiences like the one described no favours. I frequently found myself trying to read the book as non-fiction, and thinking that it might have been a lot more impactful in that genre. Nora's story, and others like her, are important and need to be told, but while reading his, I couldn't help thinking they ought to be told more baldly, because the suffering and devastation that these women endured is loud enough on its own, without clumsy attempts to make them more relatable via fictionalisation (and the breast-beating lens of sympathetic male doctors of the time, ugh).

<i>Thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.</i>

I wanted to love this book but it ended up just being good for me. This is a different setting that I have not read about and I found some of it really sad, just knowing this really did happen. My heart ached for our lead, Nora, with the injustice and abuse she went through. The only thing I struggled with was introducing a new character half way through the book. This made me lose a little bit of interest toward the end. I would have rather just focused on Nora's story, and not have known the psychiatrist backstory and struggles she was facing as well. I felt like it took something away from showing the injustice people faced in that time. Overall it was good.

This is an emotional story that is sad and unbelievable, but at the same time very uplifting and inspirational.

When 17-year-old Nora finds herself pregnant, her housekeeper secretly offers her a pill to abort the baby, since she isn’t married. Not only doesn’t that work but almost immediately her angry father has her standing in front of several high ranking men. Because she has attempted to take a life they discuss that she could possibly go to prison. Yet they concur that a better option would be to institutionalize her and label her a moral defective. This is allowed due to the Mental Deficiency Act.

Is this part hard to read? Absolutely. It’s hard to comprehend how people can be so cruel. But allow yourself to feel it, then move on. The story is much more than pain and hurt and sorrow.

The story, which is based on true events, is about people, mistakes, and misunderstandings to a large degree in the medical and psychiatric fields.

But, again, it is much more than sadness and mistakes. It’s about survival, kindness, and healing. It’s a tale of strength and inspiration.

What Concerned Me
While this isn’t a large concern, I’m still going to mention it. As the new psychiatrist begins working with Nora, their stories intermingle. While it is interesting and perhaps somewhat important, in many ways it also distracts from Nora’s story. Again, this is a small concern.

What I Liked
The writing flowed and quickly drew me in. Though some of the scenes were painful to read, the story heavily focused on survival and the goodness in people.

I highly recommend this poignant, thought-provoking debut novel by Brenda Davies.

We never know how much our words and actions can affect people. Both positive and negative.

I will definitely watch for future books by this author.

<i>Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing an ARC for review.</i>

more reviews at https://pickagoodbook.com

Enjoyed the setting (time period) the cover is gorgeous and that is what made me want to read the book in the first place...

Wow, what an emotional rollercoaster this was!

The story of Nora Jennings had me in tears several times but what shone through was her courage and resilience in overcoming what amounted to systemic abuse at a mental asylum. I am SO happy that a young, pregnant woman is no longer is considered to be "mentally deficient" if she becomes pregnant before she is married.....just appalling. The things that Nora went through whilst in "care" would have felled a lesser woman, and many people did commit suicide or just gave up and died, way before their time. That isn't to say that some of the people who ended up where she did, were probably a danger to themselves and others, but some of the practices of the time were certainly barbaric.

Despite the subject matter, what shines through for me is the enduring friendships that Nora had with Peggy, Joe, Dr's Tom and Janet and even her connection to Robert. And I love what happens when she is finally allowed to have a say in her own life :)

5 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton

Oh gosh, this is such an emotional story. Based on a true story which makes it all the more powerful, I found it utterly heartbreaking. I shed tears many times as I read Nora's story.
Nora Jennings grew up a happy child. She lived with her parents, she got good grades in school, she was a beautiful singer and sings in the church choir.  Nora is extremely close to her cousin Robert. One night, at the age of 17, their relationship takes a step further. That one night has catastrophic consequences for Nora.
When Nora tells her parents that she is pregnant at the age of 17, her father brutally beats her. Feeling lost, alone and very frightened, Nora attempts to take her own life. With advice from the local priest, Nora's parents agree to her have her sent to a mental institute. Here she is labelled a Moral Defective under the Mental Deficiency Act. She goes on to endure more than 40 years of unspeakable cruelty at the hands of those who are entrusted with her care.
In 1981 psychiatrist Janey Humphreys meets Nora. She is convinced she can help her and sets out to do exactly that. Through her work with Nora, Janet also faces demons from her own past. The relationship between these two women flourishes and despite some extremely difficult times, the warmth and friendship that forms between them emanates from the pages.
This story is beautifully told, though book one is raw & harrowing, extremely emotive and will rouse a myriad of feelings for the reader. The empathy I had for Nora, the anger I felt on her behalf was overwhelming at times. Janet was her saviour and how I cheered for Nora in book two.