Cecilia House

I purchased the softcover and gave this eBook to my wife. I thought this book was very good it's obviously sad and disturbing but also the way the story progresses it makes you want to keep reading. I have grownup children but I cannot imagine them even remotely going through something like that when they were the same ago.  If you are easily shocked then this is not the book for you.

The main character Patricia comes into contact with a lot of people during the story and I found that each time she does she at most times seems resilient despite the situation. I loved the flow of the book, every scene was well described. This is Patricia's journey through hell and she takes you with her through every page. Recommended!

Excellent writing and so informative about a shameful Catholic run orphanage in the 1940's.  While the story starts out slowly, if you stay with it, you will find yourself immersed in what actually happened to the author's mother. It is heartbreaking in the extreme to read an account of the shameful acts occurring in this orphanage run by Catholic nuns.  These young girls suffered such extreme cruelty in so many varied ways, that it will not fail to disturb you.   Only in reading and bearing witness were these priests and nuns stopped all over the world from continuing their abuses.  The ending confirms my faith in the kindness of ordinary people.

Cecilia House was a really tough read but I knew it would be so before I read the first chapter. Patricia was a likeable character which made the reading of this book even more difficult, not that anybody on this earth, regardless of character, behaviour or actions, would have to endure the torment and sufferings that those poor residents of Cecilia House had to endure. I read on picturing her and her young friends, and the many more young boys and girls who suffered at the hands of those with whom their care was entrusted, teachers, supervisors, the religious, the lay people, it was unbelievable, unspeakable, God bless them all and may those who perpetrated these crimes upon them suffer consequences in the next life if not in this one.

From a relatively happy childhood with a close family and two close best friends, Patricia loses it all. While en route to her cousin’s birthday party, a terrible auto accident happens and leaves Patricia with no family and no place to go after she leaves the hospital. She is sent to an orphanage run by the Catholic Church. What happens there is despicable. I found this book difficult to read, yet couldn’t put it down. Stories like this one, set in the 1930’s, need to be told so we don’t forget the atrocities that occurred in the past.

A strange book to read but very believable of how things can happen to children .There was a storyline about a young girl and the life she had at home then at a convent. The abuse that the inmates received from the nuns.There was a lot of sadness and horror but the story did have a happy ending.

Three young girls are best friends. They do everything together. They play in their treehouse, they go to school together, they share their lives. They promise each other to he friends forever. They decide they will grow up and travel together. That is their dream.
As life goes on their lives change. Tragic and unfortunate things happen in their lives.
Pat, one of the three girls dies. Her daughter finds her diary about her life and things that had happened during her life. She is horrified! She never knew about the things her mother had lived through.
This is a story of friendship, love, family, betrayal, religion. Most of all it is a story of unforgettable courage and determination. 
Definitely worth reading and reading again!
Absolutely Recommended!

Loved this book!  I have read stories about these homes and the abuse the children received. It is horrifying and I am glad someone wrote a good book about it. Well written.  I read it in a day, did not want to put it down!
#CeciliaHouse #NetGalley

Well written but horrifying read. You hear about places like this, but most truly don't understand and can't comprehend. Very insightful, and its about time somebody wrote about it.