The Girl Behind the Gates

Compelling. Poignant. Haunting. Heart wrenching. An eye-opener of a story that will stay with you long after you've read the last page. Hard to believe this is a debut as the writing is assured and beautiful, the characters vividly brought to life on the page. I lived every minute of this harrowing story and felt for Nora. A thought provoking story that will resonate with everyone. Just beautiful. Everyone needs to read this wonderful book.

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.

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.

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.

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*