The Quintland Sisters: A Novel by Shelley Wood (Read 1/27/19 to 1/29/18)

I received this book from Goodreads in a giveaway, it is to be released March of 2019.

This is historical fiction of the lives of the Dionne quintuplets from the point of view of their nurse Emma Trimpany.  At four months of age they were made wards of the state for the next nine years under the Dionne Quintuplets' Guardianship Act, 1935.  The Ontario provincial government and those around them began to profit by making them a significant tourist attraction. Almost 3,000,000 people walked through the gallery (their home) between 1936 and 1943 and brought in more than $50 million in total tourist revenue to Ontario.  Their parents spent the entire time fighting for custody of the sisters. This book covers the years 1934 through 1939.

The story starts out with the babies birth.  Emma is a really easy character to listen to. She is very much focused on the babies and lets a little of the rest of the world go.  I like the writing style. It has a nice smooth flow, and makes it easy to get into the story.  Just the right amount of detail to set the scene, but also allows my imagination to fill in the complete picture. It drew me in from the first page and I had a hard time putting it down.  The story is so fascinating, knowing that it is true made me want to research as I read.  I found myself doing lots of google during and after in order to see pictures of the girls.  I really enjoyed the interspersing of newspaper articles, the research for this book is superb.  The entire story broke my heart from start to finish.