Finding Echoes of the 1920s in the 2020s

The last time Ann Leary came to the Hotchkiss Library of Sharon’s Annual Summer Book Signing in Sharon, Conn., it was 2016, and her book, “The Children,” was earning kudos for its sharp, funny portrait of an uber-Wasp family and their inherited lakeside house, somewhere in northwest Connecticut. 

In the six years since then, she and actor husband Denis sold their sprawling, longtime home in Roxbury, Conn., and moved to Bedford, N.Y., mainly to be closer to their two adult children, both successful television writers in New York City, while staying near enough to Litchfield County to visit old friends. 

She also finished her fourth novel, “The Foundling,” about childhood friends from an orphanage who reconnect at a public asylum for morally unfit women —one an employee, the other an inmate. 

The Washington Post calls the book “insanely fun” with “a hair-raising caper finale that recalls the nail-biting climaxes of ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ and ‘The Shawshank Redemption.’”

The New York Times reviewer was equally smitten, advising: “Book clubs, uncork your bottles.”

Set in 1920s rural Pennsylvania, “The Foundling” was inspired by Leary’s discovery, in a 1930 census record, that her mother’s mother had worked as a stenographer at a home for “feeble-minded women of childbearing age” when she was only 17.  

“At its core, it’s a coming-of-age story, about friendship and loyalty,” Leary said recently, interviewed by phone. “But it’s also about women who don’t have the same rights in society as men do.” 

Her Ancestry.com search for details about her grandmother, an orphan whose background remains a family mystery (“orphan records are hard to find”), led Leary down a rabbit hole of horrifying information about the eugenics movement of the early 20th century — and the so-called eugenics asylums that warehoused women of supposedly inferior mental ability and moral character until they reached menopause.

The purpose was to keep any babies “genetically predisposed” to becoming paupers and criminals from being born. In reality, this meant that any woman, usually poor, who didn’t fit societal norms — a reckless girl arrested at a speakeasy or one who had had an illegitimate child — could be committed for decades.

Mary Engle, the book’s heroine (based on Leary’s grandmother) is at first delighted with her job and unaware of the true nature of the institution. The place is beautiful. Her boss is a charismatic, highly accomplished woman doctor, seemingly dedicated to those in her care. But Mary’s feelings change when she realizes her old friend, Lillian, is confined there against her will.

Although Leary says she initially got pushback from young readers who wondered why Mary wasn’t more “woke,” the character is true to her time, prejudices and all. To the author, it was important for her to be authentic. 

“She undergoes a journey of discovery about the place where she’s working, about the people she thinks are good, the people she thinks are righteous — and the people who aren’t.” 

“The Foundling” is “a perfect beach read,” according to The Washington Post, even as it touches on unpleasant historical truths about racism and anti-immigrant sentiments. Yet there’s a political subtext: The Supreme Court’s bombshell reversal of Roe v. Wade came the same week it was published — making present-day parallels to a century ago, when the government had legal guardianship over all women, suddenly more striking.  

In Leary’s opinion, most discussions about reproductive freedom seem to almost miss the point. “From the age of 21, when men are considered adults, we should be considered adults, too. If we don’t have the right to decide whether we are able to have children or not, then are we adults?”

Ann Leary is one of 30 acclaimed authors and illustrators signing copies of their new books at the 24th Annual Sharon Summer Book Signing on Friday, Aug. 5, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., a fundraiser for the Hotchkiss Library of Sharon.

Because of the ongoing library renovation, this year’s event is taking place next door, at the Sharon Historical Society, under the usual festive white tents. 

Tickets are $40 and can be purchased online or at the entrance. For details, go to www.hotchkisslibraryofsharon.org/book-signing-2022/or call 860-364-5041.