Book Review: The Quintland Sisters by Shelley Wood (historical fiction)

In 1934, during the Great Depression, the birth of the Dionne quintuplets charmed Canadians and the world. The sisters were a tremendous help to Ontario's flagging economy--to the tune of half a billion dollars. Tourists lined up to visit the sisters and purchased whatever they endorsed. And yet in 2018 one of the remaining sisters struggled to make ends meet on a fixed income.

What happened?

One of the driving forces behind writing this novel for author Shelley Wood was to help us remember the Dionne sisters.

Buy this book

I purchased my copy from Amazon

Published by HarperCollins

Published in 2019

Emma Trimpany, a seventeen-year-old rural (Northern Ontario) French-Canadian girl, helps to deliver the quintuplets and continues to care for them--as their nurse--for five years. Told in journal entries, newspaper clippings, and letters, The Quintland Sisters spans the years 1934 to 1939. Emma takes us behind the facade of the quints seemingly happy childhood into the drama and we learn what it meant to be a young woman in the 1930s, what it meant to live in the shadow of fame. 

Shelley Wood gives a portion of the proceeds derived from this novel to the Canadian Centre for Child Protection.

Adding mystery and romance helped keep me riveted from page one to the final page. 

Favourite quote:

'it is in doing the hardest things that we find ourselves the happiest, and that when we're happy, the harder things come easy.' (p. 433)

 More...

'The Quintland Sisters went on sale March 5, 2019 and was an instant bestseller on the Globe & Mail and Toronto Star Canadian bestseller list, holding the #1 spot for its first five weeks in print.' -Shelley Wood

After reading The Quintland Sisters, you may also enjoy reading
The Birth House.

Next Sunday evening...

The Invisible Woman

Has someone you knew disappeared? Have you? Maybe it's time it stopped.