Love, Alice
Page 39
Young women, often heavy with child, were subjected to hours of backbreaking work. The day began at five a.m. and consisted of scrubbing laundry for orphanages, churches, and prisons as well as private businesses such as hotels and schools. The laundries brought large sums of money to convent coffers, with not a cent going to the workers.
Babies were often born without doctors in attendance and without any kind of pain medication. Instead, mothers were reminded by the nuns that their labor pains were the price of sin. In some asylums infants were whisked away the moment they were born. Mothers were not even permitted to hold them before giving them up. The babies were then adopted by wealthy families in exchange for a healthy “donation” to the convent. Adoptive homes were often overseas—frequently in the U.S.—placing the babies forever out of reach of their birth mothers. The luckiest inmates were allowed to return to their families—if their families would have them. Sadly, this was not always the case. The forsaken were put to work in the laundry, where they were dubbed lifers and usually worked until they died.
It was disturbing to think such a thing could happen in so-called civilized societies, but it was even more disturbing to learn that Australia wasn’t an isolated case. Or that although firsthand accounts often felt like the stuff of Dickens, they did not exist solely in the days of Oliver Twist. I was stunned to learn that the last Magdalene asylum closed just twenty years ago in Waterford, Ireland, on September 25, 1996.
In recent years, movies such as Philomena and The Magdalene Sisters have drawn attention to the plight of women who fell victim to the laundries, triggered in part by the grisly discovery of a mass grave containing 155 bodies on the grounds of a former asylum in Dublin, Ireland. Years later, an even more gruesome discovery was made in County Galway.
The asylum depicted in this novel—the Blackhurst Asylum for Unwed Mothers—is not real but was cobbled together after extensive research and the careful study of firsthand accounts of life in the laundries. In its creation I tried to be as true to these women’s stories as possible, though at times it proved uncomfortable. In Love, Alice, rumors swirl about a mass grave in an abandoned cistern behind the convent’s kitchen. The inspiration for these rumors was a report published in 2014 concerning the bodies of nearly eight hundred babies believed to have been buried in a cistern on convent grounds. The babies are thought to have been secretly buried over a period of thirty-six years—between 1925 and 1961—without headstones or coffins. Reports show many suffered malnutrition and neglect, while others died of birth defects, convulsions, dysentery, tuberculosis, and pneumonia.
In Ireland alone approximately thirty thousand women were imprisoned in laundries during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, though, to be clear, such institutions were not confined to Ireland. Nor were they exclusively operated by the Catholic Church. Institutions now referred to as Magdalene laundries operated in England, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States, and while their names may have differed, their missions were the same: to carry out the punishment and subjugation of women for the sin of being sexual.
Over the past two decades, growing exposure coupled with the testimony of brave women who have come forward to tell their stories has led to an outpouring of public outrage as well as demands for both admission of guilt and restitution. On July 10, 2012, a national apology was issued by the Australian government and was followed by similar apologies by the Catholic Church and numerous other governmental agencies involved in the removal of babies from vulnerable young women.
As I said earlier, I did not set out to tell the story of the Magdalene asylums. It’s an uncomfortable subject, perhaps even a taboo subject for some. But when a terrible chapter in our history is finally exposed, the only way to guarantee that it won’t be repeated is to hold it up to the light and call it what it is, and to acknowledge the pain and damage done to its victims, which is why, in the end, I did tell the story of the Magdalene asylums.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. Blackhurst Asylum for Unwed Mothers was a fictional institution but depicted conditions prevalent in many so-called “Magdalene laundries” across the U.K., U.S., and Australia. Before reading Love, Alice, had you ever heard of Magdalene laundries? If so, what had you heard? What was your reaction to learning the last of the asylums was still operating so recently?
2. A predominant theme in Love, Alice is the unbreakable bond between mother and child. It was that bond, and the need to right a forty-year-old wrong, that brought Dora Tandy from Cornwall to Charleston. In what other ways did the mother-child bond play out in the novel to bring about understanding and, ultimately, forgiveness in many of the characters?
3. In times past, suicide has carried a certain stigma or air of taboo. It has been referred to as “the mark of disgrace” or “a sign of the evil eye.” Do you think suicide carries as much of a stigma today? What do you think causes these perceptions and how do you think society can better understand the issue?
4. Each of the main characters in Love, Alice is dealing with grief in some form or another, and most are having trouble moving past it. Have you ever known someone, yourself included, who experienced the kind of grief that just couldn’t be shaken? Do you feel it’s possible to hold on to grief too long, to become so mired in loss that the line is crossed from normal grieving into something less healthy? Or, for you, is grief such a personal thing that there simply are no lines?
5. In the novel, we learn Alice’s story through letters written to a child she is unlikely to ever meet. Have you ever considered writing a letter you knew would never be read, and if so, what did you hope to accomplish by writing it? Did you actually write the letter? Was it helpful?
6. Denial is a coping mechanism we’ve all used from time to time, though it is rarely successful. How does denial play a role in both Dovie’s and Austin’s past relationships, and how does each of them help the other eventually forgive themselves and move on?
7. The theme of complicity by avoidance is brought up several times throughout the novel, both with Dovie and with Austin. Have there been times in your life when you chose to turn a blind eye rather than face an uncomfortable truth? In retrospect, can you now see how facing that truth head-on might have saved you a lot of heartache?
8. Another issue touched upon in Love, Alice is the fallout that occurs when we allow what others think to govern our life choices. Discuss the ways society’s rigid roles and mores affected Alice, Dovie, and William. Have you ever been at a place in your life in which you’ve had to risk a relationship with a parent or partner in order to stand your ground? If so, how did you handle it?
9. The notion of secrets kept, for better or worse, appears throughout the novel. Do you personally believe honesty is always the best choice? Or do you believe there are some secrets that are better kept from a loved one—and if so, under what circumstances?
10. Forgiveness is hard. Sometimes impossible. And yet Alice finds a way to forgive both Gemma and Dora after seemingly unforgivable deeds. What specifically do you feel causes her change of heart by the end of the novel?
11. In times of deep grief nothing is more sustaining than true friendship. As unlikely as the relationship seemed to some, Josiah Ramsey was a friend to Dovie when she badly needed one. How do you feel his life experiences and personal brand of wisdom helped Dovie better understand her grief and eventually move through it?
12. At the end of Love, Alice, Dovie hints at the possibility that Alice might have been responsible for orchestrating the events that lead to the novel’s happy ending. Do you believe it’s possible for a deceased loved one to provide guidance in times of trouble or nudge us in the direction of happiness? Have you ever felt that kind of guidance in your own life?
Mama Hettie’s Shrimp and Grits
(Yes, she finally gave up her recipe!)
INGREDIENTS
2 cups uncooked coarse-ground white grits (Hettie says no
quick-cooking grits!)
½ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
¼ cup unsalted butter
1 pound unpeeled medium-size raw shrimp
4 thick slices hickory-smoked bacon, diced
6 tablespoons butter
1 medium-size Vidalia onion, diced
½ poblano pepper, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
¼ teaspoon ground red pepper
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
½ cup chicken broth
¼ cup Madeira
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
1 green onion, chopped
DIRECTIONS
Prepare grits per directions on package. Fold in cheese and unsalted butter when tender.
Peel and devein shrimp.
Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat, 4 to 5 minutes or until crisp; remove bacon from skillet and place on paper towels, reserving 2 tablespoons of drippings in the skillet.
Melt 6 tablespoons butter in hot drippings in skillet. Reduce heat. Add onion, poblano pepper, and garlic. Sauté 2 minutes or until onion is tender.
Add shrimp; cook, stirring often, 1 to 2 minutes. Add salt and white and red pepper. Toss to coat. Sprinkle flour over shrimp mixture. Toss to coat.
Add broth, Madeira, and lemon juice. Cook just until shrimp turn pink, stirring to loosen particles from skillet. Stir in bacon and parsley. Serve over grits. Top with chopped green onion.
Charleston She-Crab Soup
INGREDIENTS
½ cup unsalted butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
8 tablespoons flour
1 can chicken broth
1 cup whole milk
2 cups low-fat milk
¾ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1½ teaspoons Old Bay Seasoning
Pinch of nutmeg
Salt and white pepper to taste
1 pound fresh crabmeat
½ cup sherry (do not substitute)
Fresh chopped parsley and paprika for garnish
INSTRUCTIONS
Melt butter over medium-low heat. Add onions and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes.
Add flour and stir until well blended. Cook about 2 minutes.
Slowly whisk in chicken broth, stirring constantly until smooth.
Slowly whisk in both whole and low-fat milk, stirring constantly.
Add Worcestershire sauce, Old Bay Seasoning, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Bring to a simmer.
Add crabmeat and sherry; add more milk to thin if necessary. Cook until just heated.
Ladle into soup bowls, then garnish with fresh chopped parsley and a dash of paprika.
Swamp Water
INGREDIENTS
6 tea bags
2 cups boiling water
1 cup sugar
1 (13 oz.) package Kool-Aid unsweetened lemonade mix
Water to fill gallon jug the rest of the way
Fresh lemon slices for garnish
DIRECTIONS
Add tea bags to boiling water.
Boil 3 minutes. Cover and steep 20 minutes.
Pour sugar into gallon jug.
Add 1 package of Kool-Aid to jug, followed by steeped tea.
Run cold water over the tea bags in pan.
Squeeze the tea bags in pan and throw away. Pour liquid into jug.
Fill jug with cold water.
Chill and serve over ice. Garnish with lemon slices.
Makes 1 gallon
NOTE: The adult version, known as “Haint Swamp Water” may be enjoyed by adding a shot of vodka and a splash of Triple Sec to your glass. But be warned: the adult version tends to sneak up on a body when she’s not looking (or so I’ve heard) and haunt well into the next morning.
Photo by Lisa Aube
After spending more than a decade as an executive in the jewelry business, Barbara Davis decided to leave the corporate world to finally pursue her lifelong passion for writing. Love, Alice is her fourth novel, following Summer at Hideaway Key, The Wishing Tide, and The Secrets She Carried. She currently lives in Rochester, New Hampshire, with her husband, Tom, and their beloved ginger cat, Simon, and is working on her next book. Visit her at barbaradavis-author.com.
What’s next on
your reading list?
Discover your next
great read!
* * *
Get personalized book picks and up-to-date news about this author.
Sign up now.