4 Stars
Most of this historical novel is set in Virginia in the 1930s.
It begins with 19-year-old Lena Conti, an unwed mother, arriving on Ellis Island after leaving Germany. She is accompanied by Ella, her 2-year-old daughter; Mutti, her widowed mother; and Enzo, her teenage brother. Because Enzo speaks poor English, he is labelled as feeble-minded and a possible burden to society, so he and Mutti are deported back to Germany. Lena and Ella are reluctantly picked up by Silas Wolfe, a distant family relative, and brought to his home in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains. A widower, he tells Lena she can care for his home and his two children, Bonnie and John Henry.
Lena gradually settles in to her new life, even creating a bond with the children. But Lena soon senses a growing unease because the government is scheming to paint the mountain folk as ignorant and immoral so they can evict them from their land to form Shenandoah National Park. Children are seized from their “backward” parents and people deemed to have “inferior” genes are institutionalized and/or forcibly sterilized. As an unwed mother, Lena would be considered promiscuous so Ella could be removed from her care. Visits from government officials increase Lena’s worries as Silas tells her, “’They have been sending scientific folk up here to ask questions and study us. Now they’re saying we’re a bunch of backward, inbred, uneducated hillbillies living in squalor.’”
The novel focuses on eugenics which aimed to improve the genetic quality of human population by inhibiting the fertility of those considered inferior through sterilization. Upon her arrival in the U.S., Lena sees a sign: “Some people are born to be a burden on the rest. . . . Every 15 seconds, $100 of your money goes for the care of someone with bad heredity . . . Feeblemindedness, criminality, insanity, alcoholism, and many other defects run in families and are inherited in exactly the same way as color in guinea pigs. If all marriages were eugenic, we could breed out most of this unfitness in three generations.” In practice, eugenics worked to preserve the position of the dominant groups in the population. The people who became targets of the eugenics movement were usually the poor, immigrants, and people of colour.
I had heard of the eugenics movement but was unaware of how widespread it was and I had certainly never read a novel with a main character affected by its practices. Through Lena’s experiences and those of Silas’ family and neighbours, the true horrors of the movement are highlighted. It’s obvious that the author did extensive research. Readers of the novel should not skip the Author’s Note and the reading guide questions at the end.
The opening chapters focus on Lena and her family’s treatment upon arrival in the U.S. It does not take long for her to question the promise of the American dream: “It seemed that ‘give me your tired, your poor’ meant only those who were not really tired or poor. That if you were in need of help, if you were judged to be ignorant or ill, the gates that led to freedom were closed to you.” The treatment of immigrants one hundred years ago has parallels with the present. The sacrifices and struggles of those seeking a new life are being ignored, and those in power are deporting people, often with little, if any, due process.
Lena is a character for whom it is impossible not to have empathy. Hoping for a better life for her daughter and family, she has left everything behind, except some meager belongings. Then her mother and brother are sent back though “They had nothing to go home to now – no home, no jobs, no money.” Left alone with her child, Lena has to adapt to life in an unfamiliar environment but then faces new dangers. It is not surprising that at one point, Lena thinks, “If she’d known back then what she knew now, she never would have left Germany.” Of course, it is love for Ella that motivates her to act as she does. Lena’s courage and perseverance are also qualities that stand out.
This book is an intense read. Though there are heart-warming scenes, there are many heart-breaking ones. Though I was sad much of the time, I was also very angry at the injustice as those in power repeatedly take advantage of the marginalized. The novel ends on a positive note, but I find it impossible to forget, and indeed forgive, all that Lena and others endure.
The novel begins slowly but the pace does pick up. It’s an informative though unsettling read which has inspired me to do some research on the eugenics movement in Canada. I will definitely be recommending this book.
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