Secret Life of Dorothy Soames

Documents the author's investigation into her late mother's tragic experiences as an illegitimate orphan who endured an early life of discrimination, physical abuse and harsh labor serving England's ruling class at London's infamous Foundling Hospital. Cowan had always been told that her mother came from royal blood. After her mother's death, she opened an envelope filled with secrets of her mother's past-- secrets that led into the dark corridors of the Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Young Children. Dorothy Soames' experiences there-- years of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of a sadistic headmistress-- created a resilient child who dreamed of escape. Here Cowan makes a startling discovery that her family's fate had been sealed centuries before. -- adapted from jacket

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.