Book
The lies they told / Ellen Marie Wiseman.
In rural 1930s Virginia, a young immigrant mother fights for her dignity and those she loves against America's rising eugenics movement -- when widespread support for policies of prejudice drove imprisonment and forced sterilizations based on class, race, disability, education, and country of origin.
Record details
- ISBN: 9781496758064 (hardcover)
- Physical Description: ix, 374 pages ; 24 cm
- Edition: First Kensington hardcover edition.
- Publisher: New York : Kensington Publishing Corp., [2025]
- Copyright: ©2025
Content descriptions
| General Note: | Includes discussion questions. |
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | Eugenics > United States > History > Fiction. Immigrants > United States > Fiction. Mothers > Fiction. Virginia > History > Fiction. |
| Genre: | Historical fiction. Novels. |
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at Tsuga Consortium.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Other Formats and Editions
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lakeshore Branch | FIC Wisem | 31681010429199 | FICTION | Available | - |
- Baker & Taylor
"In 1930s Virginia, Lena Conti, a young immigrant mother separated from her family at Ellis Island, builds a new life in the Blue Ridge Mountains but must resist a brutal eugenics campaign that targets her community and threatens to take her daughter"-- - Baker & Taylor
In 1930s Virginia, Lena Conti, a young immigrant mother separated from her family at Ellis Island, builds a new life in the Blue Ridge Mountains but must resist a brutal eugenics campaign that targets her community and threatens to take her daughter. - Random House, Inc.
A Simultaneous Hardcover EditionâAlso Available as Trade Paperback Original
In rural 1930s Virginia, a young immigrant mother fights for her dignity and those she loves against Americaâs rising eugenics movement â when widespread support for policies of prejudice drove imprisonment and forced sterilizations based on class, race, disability, education, and country of origin â in this tragic and uplifting novel of social injustice, survival, and hope for readers of Susan Meissner, Kristin Hannah, and Christina Baker Kline.
When Lena Contiâa young, unwed motherâsees immigrant families being forcibly separated on Ellis Island, she vows not to let the officers take her two-year old daughter. But the inspection process is more rigorous than she imagined, and she is separated from her mother and teenage brother, who are labeled burdens to society, denied entry, and deported back to Germany. Now, alone but determined to give her daughter a better life after years of living in poverty and near starvation, she finds herself facing a future unlike anything she had envisioned.
Silas Wolfe, a widowed family relative, reluctantly brings Lena and her daughter to his weathered cabin in Virginiaâs Blue Ridge Mountains to care for his home and children. Though the hills around Wolfe Hollow remind Lena of her homeland, she struggles to adjust. Worse, she is stunned to learn the children in her care have been taught to hide when the sheriff comes around. As Lena meets their neighbors, she realizes the community is vibrant and tight knit, but also senses growing unease. The State of Virginia is scheming to paint them as ignorant, immoral, and backwards so they can evict them from their land, seize children from parents, and deal with those possessing âinferior genes.â
After a social worker from the Eugenics Office accuses Lena of promiscuity and feeblemindedness, her own worst fears come true. Sent to the Virginia State Colony for the Feebleminded and Epileptics, Lena face impossible choices in hopes of reuniting with her daughterâand protecting the people, and the land, she has grown to love.
