Bestselling Canadian author explores little-known, dark piece of Quebec history
Joanna Goodman will talk about a little-known piece of Canadian history Thursday as she presents her latest novel, “The Home for Unwanted Girls,” to the Canadian Authors Series.
The book, released last year, looks at Quebec in the early 1950s when the Duplessis government allowed church-run orphanages to convert to mental institutions in order to qualify for more funding from the federal government.
The move — orphanages run by Roman Catholic nuns called it ‘change of vocation’ — led to thousands of children being declared mentally ill and reclassified as patients. Many lived in the institutions into their adult years.
Goodman is the author of five novels. Her stories have appeared in The Fiddlehead, B & A Fiction, Event, The New Quarterly and White Wall Review, as well as excerpted in Elisabeth Harvor’s fiction anthology “A Room at the Heart of Things.”
“The Home for Unwanted Girls,” partly inspired by Goodman’s mother’s life, was on the national bestseller lists for six months. Her novel “The Finishing School” was also a national bestseller.
Originally from Montreal, she lives in Toronto with her husband and two children and is working on her sixth novel, a followup to “The Home for Unwanted
Girls.”
Goodman takes to the Roselawn Centre stage, 296 Fielden Ave., in Port Colborne Thursday.
On Thursday, Feb. 27, Jesse Thistle, Métis-Cree, from Prince Albert, Sask., will talk about his book, “From the Ashes.”
Now an assistant professor in Métis studies at York University, Thistle was a high school dropout who overcame trauma and addiction to become a rising Indigenous scholar.
Each authors series night starts at 7 p.m. with a reception and a live band, followed by the author’s presentation at 8 p.m., a question-and-answer period and a book signing.
For more information, visit thecanadianauthorsseries.ca or facebook.com/ The Canadian Authors Series.
Season tickets are available for $160, and single evening tickets are $30 and can be purchased at Port Colborne Public Library.