Nora is seventeen. Her whole life ahead of her. Bright and skilful. Her heart leads her to one night of passion and that leads to a baby.

In 2020, heads would hardly turn, families would pull together. 

In 1939, the world was very different. The Mental Deficiency Act meant Nora could be committed to an asylum as a moral imbecile. She was a threat to herself and others for one act of passion. 

This book is the story of Nora. Those facts are true and this book is the horrific harrowing tale of Nora's treatment over a period of forty years. 

When in the early eighties, Janet a psychiatrist, comes across Nora and finds she is still in hospital some forty years later and is heavily reliant on the institution she has been incarcerated in. Nora's story brings something home to Janet and she takes a vested interest in Nora and not only her rehabilitation into living a independent life but also reconciling the treatment she suffered through no fault of her own. 

This book is not for the fainthearted as the distressing scenes that are described will leave you washed out as you have been spun round a machine and left you exhausted. To think these things went on in my lifetime, in my parents. History in this case was not that long ago. Thank goodness, times have changed and treatment takes a very different path now. 

But through all of the treatment, Nora remains a strong irrepressible character who started playing a game - a game to survive, which seems was common in these cases. The game has to come to an end though and this book is a tribute to not just Nora but all those who were incarcerated in such similar circumstances. 

Beautifully and emotionally written it engages you from beginning to end. This is one if the best books I have read and for a debut novel should be up there with the best. 

The book everyone must read. It will stay with you forever.

Heartbreaking. This story will stay with me for a long time. Nora broke my heart. Her story is so sad. The harsh treatment she received was horrific and hard to read. Nora’s story needs to be heard.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

This book definitely catches how life could treat someone during this period of history. A sad and uplifting story at the same time. Definitely recommended to those readers who are interested in this type of story.

A secret hidden, a wasted life

Wow is all I can say. This book is a tearjerker for sure. To know that it is based on a true story is even more heartbreaking. I even had to put it down a couple of times and come back to it. How can this ever happen to anyone? How could parents do this to their child?

Nora is a good child. She gets good grades in school, she minds her parents, and she sings in the church choir and plays the piano. All is happy and well in her family. She grows up with her cousin Robert. One day, one time only, they make love and she becomes pregnant. When her parents find out she is beaten by her father and with the advice of the priest she is sent to a mental institution for being defective.

This is the story of the over 40 years she spent there, her life, her lost dreams, the treatment and her finally giving up and becoming institutionalized. It is the story of the Doctor Janet that came to work there and brought back the spark of life to Nora. After 40 some years in the institution Nora’s remarkable progress and her healing.

It is also the story of the Doctor Janet that has some healing of her own to do. Estranged from her parents and also her husband she must deal with the problems that caused the breakup of her marriage. She works intensely with Nora because at the same age she became pregnant and married her husband. She feels that for the grace of God she could have been in Nora’s shoes. Working with Nora helps her heal herself.

This is a beautiful story of healing, even though it is a traumatic story of the injustice done to a young woman just beginning her life. The story is beautifully written, the characters and wonderful, believable, and pertinent to the story.

I would recommend this book.

Thanks to Brenda Davies, Hodder and Stoughton, and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy for an honest review.

Wow! I loved this book. It's incredible to think that things like this really happened. The fact that this story is based on a true story makes it even more compelling.

This is told in two time periods - 1939 and 1989. In 1939 a woman is put into a mental institution where she stays until 1989 when a psychiatrist working there meets her and helps her to overcome all she has been through.

The story is so compelling, it's full of atmosphere and facts which show it is well researched. This means you just can't help but be pulled into the story and feel totally immersed within it. I found it a very emotional read and it did stay with me afterwards - I keep thinking about all the real 'Noras' out there who would have gone through similar.

A wonderful and heart-wrenching story that kept me enthralled from beginning to end. It is absolutely horrible how people were treated and how everything was just labelled as mental illness. What makes this story an even more emotional read is the fact that it is based on a true story.

A must-read book that is very well written and that will stay with you for a long time.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

1939: Nora Jennings is just seventeen when a ight of passion leads to more catastrophic consequences. Shes labelled a moral defective and sectioned under the Mental Health Deficiency Act. She spent years of unspeakable cruelty from the people who were supposed to care for her.

1981: Janet Humphreys is a psychiatrist. She discovers Nora still living in the hospital forty years after her incarceration. She knows she has to help oral overcome her past.

This is quite a harrowing book to read. It tells how society treated people back then. Women were labelled as mentally defective if they were pregnant and ot married. Thank goodness times have changed. This is an emotional roller coaster read. It's also hard to read in places but it's also incredibly rewarding. Janet also has a backstory and somehow, Janet and Nora's stories are connected. This is a beautifully written story. Just make sure you have the tissues before you start reading. I do recommend this book.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Hodder & Stoughton and the author Brenda Davies for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a rather heart breaking read. It is also true and very representative of how mental health was treated and worst of all how pre marital pregnancies were treated. Nora is a young girl who has got pregnant and of course, considering the times the first thing her mother says is "what would the neighbours think?" but in Nora's case the situation becomes worse. Her father, a tyrant at the best of times very free with his belt, calls in the authorities who declare Nora mentally deficient and she is admitted to an institute.

Nora's nightmare begins for decades and the story highlights the cruelty, the masochism and the sadism of doctors, attendants and nurses who were there to look after these patients. The murder of her baby was the most cruel thing imaginable and it is a miracle that Nora emerged from the whole stay not deranged.

Very hard to read in sections, it is nevertheless factual and it has to be said however hard the facts are to take in. A very good story. Well told.

A truly harrowing yet compelling story of a young girl who was classed as a mental defective purely because she got pregnant and was unmarried. Extremely well written but so true to life that it makes you squirm. Nora, the heroine of this story was so badly abused by the system that was supposed to care for her in the 40s it is hard to believe that the law still stood in the sixties. that unmarried mothers could have still been treated the same way. An unbelievable debut novel that will be very hard to beat. It will stay with me forever. Well done Brenda Davies.

I gave a review previously about this book. I can’t recall exact details but I can confirm that I really enjoyed it. Found it hard to believe it was a debut. Definitely recommend.

A Heartbreakingly Emotional story withe characters that grip you,all through this book i really felt for Nora and her life,A brilliant debut and i look forward to the next book 5*

When you're moved from the author note at the beginning of the novel, you know this is going to be a tough and emotional read.Having finished it my stomach is like a washing machine and my face is covered with tears. The author moving tells you she always wanted to tell Nora's story and it wasn't until a certain time that she could and then she tells you why.

The story is what happened to Nora and all the Noras out there who dared to get pregnant when they weren't married. Dared to get pregnant. No mention of the man or boy who made this possible. Girls and women were to blame and boy were they punished for it. It's truly heartbreaking to read about what happened and why these girls were treated the way they were. Heartbreaking. I felt like slapping one character and shoving another violently. and that would just be for starters. I'm not a violent person in the slightest but I can understand how people can feel anger.

Brenda and Nora should be very proud of this novel.

Compelling, horrifying, chilling and in the end, a redeeming story. Nora had the misfortune of becoming an unmarried pregnant young lady at the young age of 17 in 1939 England. This classified Nora as being “morally defective”. She was committed to a mental institution where she remained and suffered for almost 50 years.

It is a novel based on one lady's horrifying truth. Well written and while at times very difficult to read and process, it is a story that needs to be told. The book has 2 distinct sections, the first being the hospitalization of Nora and the brutal treatment she suffered over the years. The second part was the uphill struggle to being able to lead an independent life under the care of Dr Janet.

I am rating it 4 stars. I deducted half a star for the fact that while the writing was beautiful, it was too wordy. There was a lot of narrative and not enough dialogue for most of the book. The second half star deduction is for the detailed backstory of Dr Janet. I don't feel that it served any purpose other than to add more words to the story.

On the whole, a very compelling story that held me captivated for the last 2 days.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-copy of this book in exchange for a review.

I received this book from NetGalley. I really enjoy reading books that are based on true stories. After reading this book, I had to find out the true story behind this. This book is inspiring and beautifully written.

This book takes place in 1939. Nora Jennings is the main character who finds herself pregnant at 17 years old. Her family send her to a mental asylum. The way Nora is treated is barbaric. I can not believe that people used to be treated this way.

There was an introduction of a character named Janet, which I found to be unnecessary to the story line of the book. I found myself skimming some pages near the end of the book. Thankfully there was a happy ending to this book.

This book addresses sexual assault, suicide, unethical medical practices.

#netgalley, #thegirlbehindthegates

From start to finsh, this book is utterly heart-breaking. It's a difficult read, but incredibly rewarding as you follow Nora's journey and, to a lesser extent, Janet's. Janet's story would have probably made a book by itself, and it's a bit of a shame that it pales beside Nora's... but the stories are connected and intertwined in a way that is, again, heart-breaking. It's beautifully written and handled really well. Buy lots of tissues before you start to read. You'll need them.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advance copy to review. This review is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

A powerful story of trust, compassion, healing -- and the transforming power of love, that can give new life to a broken spirit.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for asking me to read and review.
This story was a wonderful read.
It is well written with some characters that are well rounded and as a reader you feel you are right there with them and feel the emotions that they are going through. The plot draws you in, keeping you wanting more and turning those pages.
A brilliant, addictive read.

A heart breaking read so emotional so shocking made even more so because it’s based on real occurrences.Nora the way she was treated will bring tears to your eyes.So well written so involving.#netgalley#hodderstoughton

A heartbreaking story based on true events.
We all now how much attitudes to teen pregnancy and pregnancy outside marriage have changed but it is horrifying to realise that young women were committed to mental asylums and abused because they got pregnant.
Nora has a seemingly perfect life until she has to admit to her family that she is pregnant. What follows is a disturbing account of abuse and neglect at the hands of the system. Fortunately not everyone is bad and the story has a happy ending but it is awful to think how many girls did not get the happy ending and died institutionalised.
A really well written book
Thank you to the publishers for gifting me an advance read copy

Net Galley very kindly offered me the chance to read this novel based on a true story. It starts In 1939 and is based the story of a 17 year old Nora Jennings who after one night of passion has more catastrophic consequences than she ever could have anticipated. She is Labelled a moral defective and sectioned under the Mental Deficiency Act,

The story is very in-depth about Nora’s life and of how she suffers day after day both mentally and physically and yet still shows strength of character. I found it harrowing and unbelievably sad at times but could not put the book down. Many years later she meets Janet a psychiatrist and another journey begins.

I would recommend this book as it deals with all sorts of issues and makes you realise how hard life during that time would have been.