I had no idea what I was getting into when I started reading A Mother's Promise. Such a compelling read!

It is about a very dark period in the 1920's when a young girl, Ruth Ann, was sent to The Virginia Colony for the Epileptic and Feebleminded. Ruth Ann had the misfortune of being pregnant (as a result of rape) and as a young, unmarried girl this caused her to be sent to this “home”. Ruth Ann was judged as having very little mental capacity or moral fibre. And, because of this, she was scheduled to be sterilized in order to not reproduce any offspring of similar “flawed genetics.”

The hardships and abuse of the residents in this home is very hard to read about. Ruth Ann is adept at letting her mind escape during the abuse. But when her sterilization procedure is scheduled, she shows the reader how smart and resourceful she can be. Even at her young age she understands that it simply is not right that she be sterilized against her will.

I love Ruth Ann......so much intelligence even though she only got to grade 6. She is resilient, loving, vulnerable, imaginative and diligent. I think she is one of my favourite characters I have ever encountered in a book.

The book is both character and plot driven, a combination I love. So many unique characters besides Ruth Ann. Good characters and bad ones. The plot is horrifying and interesting at the same time.

The story is loosely based on the case Buck vs Bell. The author did extensive research on the case and changed a few things to suit Ruth Ann and the story better. The changes are explained at the end of the book, as is the case Buck vs Bell.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing me with an Advance Readers Copy.

This book based on a true story is truly heartbreaking. It's 1927 and Ruth Anne is unwed and pregnant. She is sent away to an institution with other unwed mothers.. After the babies are born, they are taken away from the mothers and the mothers are deemed feeble minded and the girls are sterilized. Most of the girls are in the institution are in their predicaments because of rape. Ruth Ann wants to keep her daughter Annabelle and doesn't want her chance of having other children taken away from her. This was a heartbreaking book made so by knowing it was based on a true story. I loved Ruth Ann's courage and her fighting spirit! I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.

Fight for my child, fight for my life

I could not believe, as I was reading this book, that anyone could put someone in an institution simply for being an unwed mother. It was even worse in Ruth Ann's case because she had been raped against her will and by the nephew of the family that took her in and raised her when she was taken from her mother. The family did not believe her story and sent her to the institution. She soon found other girls were there for the same reason.

I find it very wrong that young women were sterilized against their will so they could never have more children. The women were labeled feeble minded and a drain on society. Ruth Ann never was allowed to speak up for herself at any court hearings. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court and the doctors were given the right to sterilize the feeble minded. The problem being the doctors made the determination on who was feeble minded.

I liked the story and the characters. Ruth Ann showed great courage. Clarence and Glory her best friends, Bonnie her sister and the baby, Annabelle, that they took from her at birth. She fought to keep her body intact and to see the child they took from her.

The story was sad, the ending was good. The author did a good job of portraying conditions of the institution and feelings and emotions of the characters.
When I read at the end of the book that it had actually been based on a true court case of a girl at the institution it gave the story even more meaning.

I think this story is one that needs to be read and we need to think about it for a while. I would recommend it.

Thanks to K.D. Alden. forever(Grand Central Publishing), and NetGalley for allowing me to read an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

A Mother's Promise by K. D. Alden is loosely based on the life of Carrie Buck and the legal case of Buck v. Bell that went all the way to the Supreme Court in the 1920s. The actions that impacted the life of fictional character Ruth Ann Riley, were based upon the prevailing theory of eugenics. She and her mother are both housed at the Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded. Dr. Price routinely practices sterilization on the inmates so that their "bad gene plasma" will not be passed on to the next generation. Dr. Price conspires with two lawyers on his board to take a case to court so his procedures would be validated by the courts and the lawyers careers would be enhanced. While the author takes liberties with the story, which she enumerates at the end of the book, the gist of it is based on fact.

How the people in the Colony were treated is barbaric and is now considered shameful. Leaders in the US supported this theory which was endorsed by Hitler in Mein Kampf and made it difficult for Jews to emigrate to the US during WWII. I was able to read this on #netgalley. It is scheduled to be released January 19, 2021.