Good Reads / Community Library Notes
The Quintland Sisters
Shelley Wood
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Quintland Sisters
Shelley Wood
Review by Priscilla Comen
The Quintland Sisters, by Shelley Wood, is a fictional story, based on the Dionne Quintuplets. In 1934, five baby girls were born in Ontario, Canada, to Mme Dionne in a shabby farm house. There were five other children in the family. It is told from the point of view of the young girl asked to be the assistant to the nurse, Ivy. Emma is seventeen and keeps a journal of everything that happens there, resulting in The Uncoupling.
Doctor Defoe was in charge and nurse de Kiriline was boss number two. Emma recalls the unforgettable scenes with the tiny quints. The reader can see the babes with toes like raisins, their faces like dolls, all alike. Thousands of people come to the door to see them, but Grandpapa keeps them out and away. Newspaper reporters and photographers bring supplies, diapers, mothers’ milk from the hospital, and an incubator to replace the blanket that covers a box next to the stove to keep the babies warm.
Fred Davis is appointed by the government to be the sole official photographer of the babies. Ivy is attracted to him. He takes many photos of her with the quints. Emma, the narrator, is accepted to the nursing program at North Bay, paid by Dr. Defoe. Emma also loves sketching the babies and the scenes, because she wants to be an artist more than anything. Emma grows, just as the babies grow. She loves them for themselves. A new, large hospital is built across the street from the Dionne farmhouse, but the babies are too ill to be moved there right away. It is named the Defoe Hospital and Nursery. The doctor believes the new hospital will be better for the babies and they are moved. Their health improves as they lie in the sun.
On the babies’ first birthday, they receive cards from President Roosevelt and King George. Queen Mary sends five sterling silver rattles. Emma is praised for her art work, the drawings in her journal. Measurements of weight and length are kept regularly by the staff. Doctor Defoe tries to normalize the lives of the babies by building them a small playground. Thousands still come to ogle them and companies want to use them in advertisements and on posters. A significant amount of money goes into their trust funds. This is the picture of their first five years because author Wood wants to depict their exploitation to sell products. Emma sees them as unique individuals, not identical as everyone thinks. Find this fascinating book on the new fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.
Doctor Defoe was in charge and nurse de Kiriline was boss number two. Emma recalls the unforgettable scenes with the tiny quints. The reader can see the babes with toes like raisins, their faces like dolls, all alike. Thousands of people come to the door to see them, but Grandpapa keeps them out and away. Newspaper reporters and photographers bring supplies, diapers, mothers’ milk from the hospital, and an incubator to replace the blanket that covers a box next to the stove to keep the babies warm.
Fred Davis is appointed by the government to be the sole official photographer of the babies. Ivy is attracted to him. He takes many photos of her with the quints. Emma, the narrator, is accepted to the nursing program at North Bay, paid by Dr. Defoe. Emma also loves sketching the babies and the scenes, because she wants to be an artist more than anything. Emma grows, just as the babies grow. She loves them for themselves. A new, large hospital is built across the street from the Dionne farmhouse, but the babies are too ill to be moved there right away. It is named the Defoe Hospital and Nursery. The doctor believes the new hospital will be better for the babies and they are moved. Their health improves as they lie in the sun.
On the babies’ first birthday, they receive cards from President Roosevelt and King George. Queen Mary sends five sterling silver rattles. Emma is praised for her art work, the drawings in her journal. Measurements of weight and length are kept regularly by the staff. Doctor Defoe tries to normalize the lives of the babies by building them a small playground. Thousands still come to ogle them and companies want to use them in advertisements and on posters. A significant amount of money goes into their trust funds. This is the picture of their first five years because author Wood wants to depict their exploitation to sell products. Emma sees them as unique individuals, not identical as everyone thinks. Find this fascinating book on the new fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.