Maddie Manning has learned that digging into family history uncovers as many shocks as it does rewards. She now knows that the man she thought was her uncle is in fact her father, and the man she used to call Dad-well, he's actually no blood relation at all. But she's also found a gem of a grandmother, Cecily, the woman who actually gave birth to her real dad at a Magdalene house in 1954.
Now it's time to unwrap the story of "the other mother," Bridie, a young Irish woman who was raped by the son of her employer and duped into entering the same Magdalene house, where she too would give birth to a son.
Following her fascinating first novel Angel, Sinner, Mermaid, Saint, author Alice Lee Thornton continues her trilogy with The Magdalene Connection, which explores the hidden link forged between Cecily and Bridie. And while it offers a more in-depth look into the harsh attitudes toward rape victims and unwed mothers in England and Ireland in the 1950s, this compelling story blossoms into a tale of love, forgiveness, and the true value of family.
About the Author: Alice Lee Thornton didn't start writing until she'd already lived a full life. Born in 1938 in Ely, England, where her father was Precentor of the Cathedral, she grew up in Devon, Cornwall, Shropshire, and Somerset, and was educated at Christ's Hospital Girls' School in Hertford and the College of St. Matthias in Bristol.
After a career teaching English and Music, she spent several years managing a Bed and Breakfast, teaching piano lessons, and serving as chairman of the Suffolk and North Essex branch of The Incorporated Society of Musicians. Then, at the age of seventy-two, she transcribed and edited her mother's handwritten memoir. A vacation in Cornwall inspired her to write her first novel Angel, Sinner, Mermaid, Saint.
Married three times, Alice has three children, two sets of stepchildren, and four grandchildren. Now widowed, she lives in Somerset with her Labrador-Saluki dog, Guinness.
