The Magdalen laundries were workhouses in which many Irish women and girls were effectively imprisoned because they were perceived to be a threat to the moral f

A New York Times Bestseller • Shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize One of the New York Times's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century "A hypnotic and electrifyin

The convents, asylums, and laundries that once comprised the Magdalene institutions are the subject of this work. Though originally half-way homes for prostitut

Dublin, 1962. Within the gated grounds of the convent of The Sisters of the Holy Redemption lies one of the city’s Magdalen Laundries. Once places of refuge,

Frances Finnegan traces the history of the Magdalen Asylums in Ireland, homes founded in the 19th century for the detention of prostitutes undergoing reform, bu