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The Lost Girls of Willowbrook

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The Lost Girls of Willowbrook

By: Ellen Marie Wiseman
Narrated by: Morgan Hallett
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About this listen

In her most powerful novel to date, New York Times bestselling author Ellen Marie Wiseman masterfully viscerally evokes the real-life Willowbrook State School, the infamous Staten Island, New York, mental institution that shocked a nation when exposed in the 1970s as a dumping ground for unwanted children. Girl, Interrupted meets One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in this gripping narrative of social injustice, survival, and a young woman determined to find her sister.

Sage Winters always knew her sister was a little different even though they were identical twins. They loved the same things and shared a deep understanding, but Rosemary—awake to every emotion, easily moved to joy or tears—seemed to need more protection from the world.

Six years after Rosemary's death from pneumonia, Sage, now sixteen, still misses her deeply. Their mother perished in a car crash, and Sage's stepfather, Alan, resents being burdened by a responsibility he never wanted. Yet despite living as near strangers in their Staten Island apartment, Sage is stunned to discover that Alan has kept a shocking secret: Rosemary didn't die. She was committed to Willowbrook State School and has lingered there until just a few days ago, when she went missing.

Sage knows little about Willowbrook. It's always been a place shrouded by rumor and mystery. A place local parents threaten to send misbehaving kids. With no idea what to expect, Sage secretly sets out for Willowbrook, determined to find Rosemary. What she learns, once she steps through its doors and is mistakenly believed to be her sister, will change her life in ways she never could imagined...

©2022 Ellen Marie Wiseman (P)2022 Recorded Books
Coming of Age Historical Fiction Fiction Island

What listeners say about The Lost Girls of Willowbrook

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Predictable

Okay but predictable with a soppy, feel-good ending.
I’ve read 4 others by EMW and enjoyed them all but this one didn’t keep me engaged in the same way. Hoping her next is better.

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Not the best

I kept going but it wasn’t the best read. Persisting felt a bit painful. Detailed and very repetitive descriptions in the beginning and an almost ‘and they all lived unbelievably happily ever after conclusion’.
I wasn’t the hugest fan of the narrator either but that part could just be personal preference.

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Like a horror movie, but based in reality!

A gripping tale, made all the more devastating by the knowledge that this place actually existed! The narration was engaging & the story keeps you on the edge of your seat. I loved that the author combined fact & fiction. You’ll be left researching the real Willowbrook & some of the horrors mentioned throughout the book, for weeks after listening to it.

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