A fascinating, engrossing book about a dark part of Britain history. Although the eugenics movement is difficult and often uncomfortable to read about as a modern reader, Fein manages to show the very real human cost of prejudice and lack of scientific understanding in the story of the Hamilton family. An important read..

2.5 stars rounded up.

The Hidden Child covers a dark page in history that I was unfamiliar with: the eugenics movement. I was familiar with Hitler’s Aryan race ideal but had no idea there was a movement to create a society with ideal intelligence and health. These ideas were fascinating and horrifying at the same time. The wealthy names attached to the movement were really surprising.

I liked the premise of the story with Edward as a eugenics scientist at odds with his family situation but the overall story was a bit slow and repetitive. I did not understand why there were chapters that gave Epilepsy a voice. These pages felt disjointed and strange from the rest of the book and turned epilepsy into a monster instead of a neurological disorder.

The characters were all unlikeable and not believable as real people. While the story had a big build up of conflict and turmoil, it was resolved so quickly and easily in a nice neat bow that did not feel authentic.

Thank you to Netgalley and WilliamMorrow Publishing for this Kindle ARC.

This was such an interesting historical fiction book. It’s set in the late 1920’s in the height of the eugenics movement and I’ve got to say- I haven’t ever learned much about it.

Eleanor and Edward are happily married and well off. Edward is heavily involved in the Eugenics movement and very vocal about his feelings. Life seems to be going pretty well until their 5 year old daughter starts having weird convulsions.

It was heartbreaking to read about Mabel’s journey. They didn’t know a lot about epilepsy back then and the treatments as well as how epileptics were treated were horrifying.

I love @louisefeinauthor writing. Her imagery and depth of research absolutely added to the story. There’s a bit of a mystery woven in the that reminded me a bit of Susan Meissner’s The Nature of Fragile Things.

There were a few parts that dragged on for me and it felt a little long but I really enjoyed this one!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

This was a great book, it was well written and emotional.
It took me longer than expected to read because of the subject matter. The main character, Eleanor, is married to someone very involved in the eugenics movement. Their very young daughter develops epilepsy and that combined with Edward’s views made it a hard read. Eleanor’s love for her daughter was the brightest spot in this book and the author, in my opinion as a mom who can only imagine what Eleanor went through, did a fantastic job capturing the heartbreak. There were a few scenes I had to stop reading and take a break because it was so heartbreaking.
Also there were a few chapters written from the disease’s point of view and I’m not sure I liked that, it was a strange choice.
I’m glad I stuck it out though because the ending was worth it. It was the ending the story needed with all of that awfulness.

Another amazing book from Louise Fein. This book. Definitely a must-read for historical fiction fans. This book has it all, great buildup, excellent characters and interesting subject matter.

As someone who has epilepsy, and as the parent of a child with epilepsy as well as the sibling of someone with epilepsy, books like this are always hard for me to read. Even today, there is a stigma attached to the word epilepsy. People seem to be afraid of us, although I largely suspect that is because most people have never witnessed a seizure and aren't quite sure what to do when they see one.

As hard as it is for people like me to read a book like this, it is important that they continue to be written. History is full of stories like these, of discrimination and active abusive against people with disabilities. Even a few decades ago there were laws that kept people with epilepsy from marrying and/or having children in certain states. Eugenics is an ugly topic but this book does a wonderful job with the subject material. Reading this is an emotional journey but certainly one worth taking.

The Hidden Child by Louise Fein is historical fiction at its best in educating while entertaining its readers.

It is 1920s in London and Eleanor and Edward have a "perfect" life. Money, a beautiful daughter and happy marriage. But the 1929 stock market crash is coming, their child develops epilepsy and Hitler is putting the movement of eugenics (weeding out imperfect people) into real life.

Soon the facade of a perfect life is ripped apart and reality is harsh and only a mother's love maybe this family's salvation. Not always an easy story but a fascinating well written one.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via #Netgalley for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

Eleanor and Edward Hamilton seem to have both overcome challenges from their younger years and outwardly have charmed lives. Edward is a leading light of the Eugenics movement, hoping to be awarded a knighthood. Eleanor stays at their country home with their young daughter, Mabel, eagerly awaiting Edward's weekend visits.

But learning that Mabel suffers from epilepsy sets their lives into a tailspin. Edward cannot let it be known that his own daughter is "flawed," and sees no option other than institutionalization. As she watched Mabel's condition deteriorate with treatment, Eleanor starts to doubt Edward--even more so when she suspects he is keeping secrets from her.

Set in late 1920s England, THE HIDDEN CHILD is immersive and captivating. Despite the inhumanity of the movement they both initially embrace, they are relatable, sympathetic characters. The secondary characters--Sophie, Rose, Marcel--are equally enchanting. #TheHiddenChild #NetGalley

Wow! Best book I've read in a while- 4 1/2 stars. The Hidden Child is a historical fiction work that follows a family who is very involved in the eugenics program. Their four year old develops epilepsy (seizure disorder) and the book is written from three different POV. A little bit of a pat ending, but it was an enjoyable read. I appreciate being able to read this book through Netgalley.

The Hidden Child by Louise Fein is an excellent, thought-provoking historical fiction novel that is truly engrossing and that kept me interested from beginning to end.

I really enjoyed Ms. Fein's previous novel, Daughter of the Reich, so I was excited to be able to read this book as well. This is a darker, more serious read then a lot of the current WWII era fiction that is present at this time. It is however very important that the subject of eugenics and what was attempted in the past continue to be remembered for the morality of the human race in general for the future.

I have read quite a bit on the subject of eugenics and "selection" in reference to the mindset, proclamations, rules, and atrocities that were pushed and broadcasted from the Nazi propaganda machine in the 1920s-1940s. The fact that the ideals became so widespread is just astounding looking back at it now. The author takes this aspect of history and creates a personal narrative incorporating this.

The story of Mabel, Eleanor, and Edward Hamilton and their specific situation in England was hard to read, but yet fascinating at the same time. What Edward had "believed" in and had supported was really shattered when it then was at direct odds with the illness of his child and what was at one time impersonal and politics, then became really, really personal. The inner and outer struggles that occurred within Eleanor and Edward individually, between each other, and in respect to Edward's political and societal statements were fundamentally at odds. I enjoyed how at least in this case the uplifting and satisfying ending. Unfortunately for a lot of families across many lands, this did not end in such an upbeat way.

5/5 stars

Thank you NG and William Morrow and Custom House for this wonderful arc and in return I am submitting my unbiased and voluntary review and opinion.

I am posting this review to my GR and Bookbub accounts immediately and will post it to my Amazon, Instagram, and B&N (review is under RachelDenise0) accounts upon publication.

The Hidden Child
By: Louise Fein
Pub Date: October 18, 2021

To be honest I found the book a little hard to keep turning pages but I finally got thru it. I do find it interesting and lots of times sad to look at the medical world around the turn of the 20th century. I feel so much that Eleanor did what any loving mother would have done at that time. While we have come so far in the medical world over the past 100 years there are still many with the same century old thinking. I enjoyed reading thru this story while it was hard at times to keep me drawn in. I would give this a 4 star rating for its content and story.

I received a copy of this book from @Netgalley and publisher @WilliamMorrow & @CustomHouseBks in exchange for my honest review.

Summary by Netgalley
Eleanor Hamilton is happily married and mother to a charming four-year-old girl, Mabel. Her husband, Edward, is a leading light in the burgeoning Eugenics movement, which is designing the very ideas that will soon be embraced by Hitler.
But when their daughter develops debilitating epileptic seizures, their world fractures. Mabel’s shameful illness must be hidden or Edward’s life’s work and the family’s honor will be in jeopardy.
When Eleanor discovers Edward has been keeping secrets, she calls into question everything she believed about genetic inferiority, and her previous unshakeable faith in her husband disintegrates. Alarmed, distressed, and no longer able to bear the family’s burden, she takes matters into her own hands.
#TheHiddenChild
#Netgalley
#bookreview

Set 10 years after WWI in Great Britain, a highly regarded professor, Edward, who is an advocate of the eugenics movement and his wife, Eleanor find that the daughter Mabel has started to have epileptic spells. As her condition continues to deteriorate, they must make some hard decisions and make choices to reveal secrets/come to terms with the past.

I thought The Hidden Child was well written & researched, however a hard book (subject wise) to stomach. Don't get me wrong I really liked the book but I think those with young children could potentially be turned off by it. I liked the differences in Eleanor and Edward's perspectives on everything from their marriage, their child and their thoughts on eugenics. Both characters grew as the book progressed and although the ending was neat & tidy, it was satisfying to see their growth.

What I really could have done without was the POV of the disease. I honestly found these sections creepy and something disturbing plus entirely unnecessary to the plot.

Thanks to William Morrow and Netgalley for an advanced copy of The Hidden Child by Louise Fein.

This was a fascinating and thought provoking historical fiction set around the Eugenics movement in England in the 1920s. While at first glance you're almost horrified to be reading a book with that as the topic, but it brought up so many questions around the ethics, morality and most importantly the medical treatments and medical conditions during this time.

Eleanor is happily married and a mother to a 4 year old girl, Mabel. Her husband is a war hero, and pyschologist in the Eugenics movement and working on education and policy in Great Britain. When Mabel, starts to have epileptic seizures, it changes everything since a majority of Edward's work is on epilepsy and believing that it was a genetic weakness that needed to be eliminated. But what happens when it is your own child??

The beginning was a little slow but once you get into the book, you are fascinated and horrified and I couldn't put the book down. I liked the alternating chapters between Eleanor and Edward and seeing both of their reactions.

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I expected. This isn't a book for everyone, but if you're looking for a historical fiction around a tough subject and a little more of a history about the Eugenics movement in the 1920s in both the UK and US, I recommend The Hidden Child.

This is a well written that was full of emotions. It was hard to read in spots but over all it was a good read. I wasn't sure about this book at first but I'm glad I kept reading.
I received a complimentary copy from William Morrow and Custom House via NetGalley and was not required to write a review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Wow. Just wow. This is a story of heartbreaking depth and voluminous highs. I had never heard of Eugenics or anything that went along with it and I feel wiser having read this. That being said, the description of the lives and history of the people in the story was fascinating in its own right. Really well done.
Eleanor is married to Edward, a war hero and they have a good life. They live comfortably with the help of their staff and enjoy their daughter Mabel until one day she starts having fits and no one knows why. Dwarf is a man of science and data and education and believes in Eugenics and the “survival of the fittest.” Of course, Mabel’s illness doesn’t line up with those beliefs so he decides that what’s best for them all is to put Mabel in an institution so that she can get help without being gawked at or laughed at or being the subject of the town’s gossips. In doing so, he alienated his wife, who doesn’t want that for her child, but being in that time period, she has little to say in the matter. She loves her husband and respects his work but doesn’t necessarily agree with it, especially about trying to make a “perfect” society and hiding away those less than. In deciding to fight for her daughter’s well being, Eleanor stands up for those with hat society might consider to be inadequate and learns how to care for her daughter with the help of some open minded people and physicians.
I found myself cheering and weeping at alternating points in the story and even though it is fiction it truly was educating.
Thanks to William Morrow paperbacks and Netgalley for this Arc in exchange for my review.

the setting is 1928 London Mabel is the 4 year old daughter of her parents Eleanor and Edward an beloved by her aunt Rose. Edward is proposing along with his colleagues to ensure the ending of all human impairments ( mental & physical) among the poor.

Mabel suddenly displays symptoms of epilepsy , she has seizures .neither of her parents have epilepsy in their families and is believed to be genetic;.

Edward gives a lecture wherein he states science has shown is an inherited tendency passed from one generation to another ( this is before Mabel is diagnosed ).
As Mabel's seizures become more frequent Eleanor gives birth to a healthy son (after 3 previous miscarriages).
Eleanor doesn't feel love for him as she does for Mabel.

The medicine Mabel is forced to take for her seizures doesn't hep and makes her physically ill.

Her parent s consult a specialist and he tells them Mabel's condition will only worsen and she will lose her ability to speak. He recommends she be be placed in a facility for treatment and he suggests using a new medicine for her symptoms: phenobarbital .

Her parents place her in the facility and don't mention her condition to anyone.

Eleanor learns of a new treatment being used in France that has had favorable results at the Mayo Clinic for the treatment of epilepsy. Eleanor is hopeful this treatment will help Mable an goes to see the doctor in charge of the facility and he is against it , He says she has been on the phenobarbital treatment for a year and her seizures are increasing..

Eleanor takes Mable out of the facility with the help of her sister and a doctor on staff in favor of the new treatment, which involves a specialized diet. This is done without Edward knowing of it as he doesn't believe in the "diet"..
Eleanor takes Mabel to France and after she's on the specialized diet Mabel improves considerably..

When the stock market crash hits, the bank Edward has his money in collapses and files for bankruptcy.
Eleanor returns with Mabel and as a family they weather the financial storm with Mabel being seizure free.







the mediccine Mable is forced to have doesn't help her seizures.

What an interesting storyline for WW2. It did feel a bit and a bit heavy in the world of science and academia at times but the heart of the book was good. Sure did make me think what I would do for my child if it went against what my husband and I had always believed.

"The Hidden Child" is not your usual historical fiction novel, that is set in the time period between the world wars. It does not focus on the wars, only on the first world war as a contributing factor to certain character's personalities, emotional state and actions.
The main focus of this novel is on Eleanor and Edward and their 4 year old daughter Mabel. Eleanor was a secretary for the war department when she met Edward, a WWI captain that was becoming decommissioned after the war ended. They marry and have a daughter, Mabel.
Edward is a professor of eugenics and a leader on the subject, holding high office in the Eugenics Society and presenting on the subject to parliament, advocating for enforced sterilization programs, and institutions for the weak and feeble minded, including epileptics which were considered to be prone to criminal acts and sexual deviance.
All is well with their lives and marriage until Mabel begins having "episodes". Eleanor tries her best to ignore them until they happen in front of a few other people. Still she shrugs it off, trying to pretend all is well. The episodes become more and more frequent and more severe in nature until it becomes impossible to hide and Edward sees one happen. He is appalled by it. They seek medical advice and Edward decides it is best to place Mabel in a colony for epileptics. Best to leave their 4year old daughter in a cold damp place, alone with noone and best also not to visit her. Yes, best for a high standing member of the Eugenics Society, best for Edward to save face, to hide the shameful fact that his superior genes produced something so defective.
Now this is where I say "oh my god, how in the world could you possibly do that to your own child? To any child or adult for that matter?" But those were different times than now, they were just learning about epilipsy, they didn't have the medications or the knowledge we have today. They were quick to put anyone who wasn't "normal" in an institution, to hide them away like some shameful secret. The whole science of eugenics is barbarous to me. That people only inherit the ability to be smart from some superior gene and people of the lower classes, the less intelligent had bad or defective genes, that they were prone to be criminals and sexual deviants, therefore they must be forced into sterilization so they do not reproduce and pass the defective genes on. That people believed this crap and endorsed it, well it is totally mind blowing to me. Reading what the Eugenics Society believed in, and what laws were being fought for quite frankly made me sick to my stomach. I was really truly ill reading this. I think this book upset me more than any other I have read. Just knowing this kind of thing was normal and went on all the time back then, and back then was not all that long ago either. It is horribly upsetting.
The book is well researched and written in the tone of the times it is set in. I cared for the characters, felt Mabel's and Eleanor's pain and hated Edward with a passion, so it did spark emotion for sure. I would recommend to those with a strong stomach who can tolerate reading of the inhumane practices of those times. Both to children and adults. And the judgement of the have's of the have nots.. This book is very informative on the subject of eugenics and anyone interested in the subject will do well choosing this novel. It launches on October 19th so don't miss it.
Thank you to the publishers at William Morrow Paperbacks and to Net Galley for the free ARC, I am leaving my honest review in return.

The Hidden Child follows the story of Edward, Eleanor and their daughter Mabel. Edward is a psychologist who has devoted his life's work to eugenics and eradicating qualities deemed not as "pure". His wife Eleanor agrees with his research and was working alongside him until they had their first daughter, Mabel. Now a few years later they are happy, until Mabel exhibits symptoms of epilepsy. They find themselves having to contend with their morals and values when the qualities they deem lesser are within their own home.

The Hidden Child was very well researched and provided a lot of information on eugenics and the beliefs surrounding them not only in Europe but the United States as well. Unfortunately the information was dry and presented in the format of lectures that became very tedious. I also didn't like the sections narrates by "epilepsy". I thought they didn't flow well with the story and were confusing, especially at the beginning. I really wanted to like this book as the story and dilemma was very interesting, I just found myself losing focus and putting the book down from lost interest.

The Hidden Child by Louise Fein is a great book. In this novel we meet Eleanor and Edward Hamilton and their daughter Mabel. When Mabel comes down with a terrible illness, Eleanor and Edward react in different ways. As a mother, Eleanor wants to do the best for her daughter and is willing to sacrifice anything. Edward, who carries lots of emotional baggage and secrets, thinks only of the impact of Mabel’s illness will have on his private and professional life. Thus begins a journey for both of them to do what they think is best. Eleanor learns that she is a strong capable woman and mother. Her love for her daughter leads her to explore a new path for her daughter and herself. Edward learns there is more to life than honors. A beautiful story of a mother’s love and a man who learns finally to be the man he always hoped he would be. A good story and I would recommend it to anyone.