REVIEW:

Did you know that the 1927 US Supreme Court Buck vs. Bell decision, which legitimized eugenic sterilization laws in the United States, has never been overturned?! This is a ruling that not only led to approx. 70,000 forced sterilizations in America but also created a model that was implemented by the Third Reich. What a shocking and shameful legacy for our country.

Carrie Buck was a teen girl sent to live in the Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded after a series of devastating events beyond her control. Author K.D. Alden has taken her life as inspiration and fictionalized it in A Mother’s Promise.

The story begins shortly after Ruth Ann Riley (as Buck is renamed in the novel) has a baby that the Colony takes away from her and places with a foster family. The superintendent, Dr. Price, informs Ruth Ann that he will soon be performing an operation on her so she can’t have more children. He deems her feebleminded, her mother is also institutionalized as a lunatic, and her baby is already labeled as being not right. His argument is that three generations of imbecilic dependents is enough of a burden on the state. She, and others like her, must not breed.

But Ruth Ann is a fighter, and she resists this non consensual sterilization all the way to court. She wants a family one day. She wants the daughter that was taken from her. She wants to live a normal life beyond the walls of the Colony.

K.D. Alden is the pseudonym of an author who has previously written across various genres, and her experience shows. The time period and setting are vivid, the pacing never lags, and the characterization is spectacular. In fact, Ruth Ann is my favorite kind of character - a gutsy girl whose spirit is infectious.

Fans of Diane Chamberlain’s Necessary Lies will likely adore this book, as will anyone looking for those diamond-in-the-rough 20th century historical fiction novels not set during WWII. The final pages include a Reading Group Guide with a brief history on Buck vs. Bell , discussion questions, and the actual Supreme Court opinion written by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

My sincere thanks go to the author and Forever/Grand Central Publishing for my gifted copy.

PUBLISHER SYNOPSIS:

Based on the true story behind a landmark U.S. Supreme Court Decision, K.D. Alden’s debut is a rich and moving story of one woman’s courage and strength at a pivotal point in America’s history.

Virginia, 1927. A chance to have a family. That’s all Ruth Ann Riley wants. But because she was unwed and pregnant, she was sent away and her baby given to another woman. Now they’re trying to take Ruth Ann’s right to have another child. But she can’t stand the thought of never seeing little Annabel’s face again, never snuggling up to her warmth or watching her blue eyes crinkle with laughter. Good thing she has a plan.

All the rich and fancy folks may call her feeble-minded, but Ruth Ann is smarter than any of them have bargained for. Because no matter how high the odds are stacked against her, she is going to overcome the scandals in her past and get her child back—and along the way, she just may find unexpected friendships and the possibility of love in the most unlikely of places.