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Compromise with Sin
She stops at nothing to maintain a veneer of Victorian respectability. But the consequences of infidelity prove far worse than mere exposure. After straying into the arms of Doc Foster and becoming pregnant, small-town civic leader Louise Morrissey faces ruin if anyone— especially her husband— finds out.
When infection steals the eyesight of her newborn baby, Louise knows it is punishment for her sin. What she doesn't know is that the web of deceit she weaves to safeguard her marriage and reputation will eventually ensnare her husband and daughter with tragic consequences.
Guilt-ridden and seeking redemption, Louise risks revelation of her secrets as she joins Helen Keller, who dares to "speak the unspeakable," in a grassroots movement to end the blinding scourge known as "babies' sore eyes."
In a confessional moment, Louise signs in Helen's hand: "When you wrote 'they enslave their children's children who make compromise with sin,' you were writing about me."
A fictional version of real events, the story pits Louise, Helen, and others against society's taboos as they champion what would become one of the greatest public health triumphs of the twentieth century.
The story is one of romantic love at its most complicated, tragic, and poignant.
DISCUSSION GUIDE INCLUDED
When infection steals the eyesight of her newborn baby, Louise knows it is punishment for her sin. What she doesn't know is that the web of deceit she weaves to safeguard her marriage and reputation will eventually ensnare her husband and daughter with tragic consequences.
Guilt-ridden and seeking redemption, Louise risks revelation of her secrets as she joins Helen Keller, who dares to "speak the unspeakable," in a grassroots movement to end the blinding scourge known as "babies' sore eyes."
In a confessional moment, Louise signs in Helen's hand: "When you wrote 'they enslave their children's children who make compromise with sin,' you were writing about me."
A fictional version of real events, the story pits Louise, Helen, and others against society's taboos as they champion what would become one of the greatest public health triumphs of the twentieth century.
The story is one of romantic love at its most complicated, tragic, and poignant.
DISCUSSION GUIDE INCLUDED
416 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 19, 2017
About the author
Leanna Englert
1 book4 followersWondering what would happen to a family whose child was blinded by babies’ sore eyes is how a project that began as non-fiction veered in the direction of a novel. But since I'd been a freelance writer of articles in such varied fields as healthcare and manufacturing, that meant I had to re-tool. Those writing muscles that were in the habit of producing sentences like, “During a PET scan, the patient’s head is positioned in a ring containing radiation-detecting crystals,” had to be retrained to write fiction. It took years before I was satisfied that Compromise With Sin was a novel I would want to read.
Causes on behalf of preventing blindness and serving blind people have been a lifelong interest. At one point I belonged to a little band of volunteers who transcribed print books into Braille. Years later, I had an opportunity to use my ability to read Braille (by sight, not by touch) and write it when I taught the first blind student mainstreamed into an Omaha, Nebraska, high school.
I now live with my husband, Timothy, in Austin, Texas, where both of us are volunteer narrators for the Texas Talking Book Program. Inline skating and polymer clay are favorite activities, along with anything that involves my family.
Leanna Englert
Causes on behalf of preventing blindness and serving blind people have been a lifelong interest. At one point I belonged to a little band of volunteers who transcribed print books into Braille. Years later, I had an opportunity to use my ability to read Braille (by sight, not by touch) and write it when I taught the first blind student mainstreamed into an Omaha, Nebraska, high school.
I now live with my husband, Timothy, in Austin, Texas, where both of us are volunteer narrators for the Texas Talking Book Program. Inline skating and polymer clay are favorite activities, along with anything that involves my family.
Leanna Englert
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 17, 2020
I probably does not get out of this book what most people do... I was not on board with the MC's crusade to enforce routine eye drops in all newborn infants. I think a lot of other paths could have been taken that weren't, and parents in today's generation are now dealing with major government overreach in medical issues. Thankfully, it seems that some progress has been made in reversing these laws and giving more parents the right to make medical decisions for their children in this area.
That aside, there was a lot i did enjoy about the book. In particular, I appreciated the growth and development of the main character. Her struggles and failures were real, and her flaws were many, but as the reader, I was compelled to cheer her on and root for her. Sometimes flawed characters are written in an unlikable way, but I did not find that to be the case here.
There were some anachronisms, over at least they seemed so to me, and the second half of the book read more like a biography (which this isn't) or a history of "the cause" than a novel, with a lot of straightforward matter of fact discussion of meetings and events and such rather than the thoughts and feelings of the characters involved. The first half and the last quarter of the book were great but I slogged through some of the rest.
This book definitely tackles some heavy topics: infidelity, incest/rape, alcoholism, venereal disease, and, of course, blindness. The handling of them is very straightforward, though, not salacious or sensationalized. Neither are they sugar coated- cause and effect leaves a clear trail here.
Overall, I give it 4 stars, rounded up from 3.5.
That aside, there was a lot i did enjoy about the book. In particular, I appreciated the growth and development of the main character. Her struggles and failures were real, and her flaws were many, but as the reader, I was compelled to cheer her on and root for her. Sometimes flawed characters are written in an unlikable way, but I did not find that to be the case here.
There were some anachronisms, over at least they seemed so to me, and the second half of the book read more like a biography (which this isn't) or a history of "the cause" than a novel, with a lot of straightforward matter of fact discussion of meetings and events and such rather than the thoughts and feelings of the characters involved. The first half and the last quarter of the book were great but I slogged through some of the rest.
This book definitely tackles some heavy topics: infidelity, incest/rape, alcoholism, venereal disease, and, of course, blindness. The handling of them is very straightforward, though, not salacious or sensationalized. Neither are they sugar coated- cause and effect leaves a clear trail here.
Overall, I give it 4 stars, rounded up from 3.5.
November 14, 2017
I have to admit that if I were walking through a book store I probably would not have picked up this book to read; the title implies something the book is not. At least to me the titles sounds rather like a romance novel and while there are romantic elements it really is so much more.
Louise is a very proper woman married to a somewhat flighty man. He is well known in town and respected in spite of his idiosyncrasies. The two of them run an inn but all is not peaches and cream in their marriage. Louise has an affair with the town doctor and she finds herself pregnant. She believes that her future is assured but as is often the case, life does not follow along with the dreams we have for it.
Louise and her husband go forward with him none the wiser but when complications arise after the birth, the baby is blind. It’s not until much later that Louise finds out that her daughter is unnecessarily blind. As her tidy life starts to fall apart around her Louise finds her strength and the courage to campaign for the defenseless children who suffer from “babies’ sore eyes.”
I did not know anything at all about this condition that blinded so many children at this period in history. Not just in the United States, but all over the world. Untreated venereal disease was apparently somewhat rampant and children suffered. Babies’ sore eyes was a condition that happened when the infection got into the babies’ eyes when passing through the birth canal. It was determined that if the babies were given eye drops immediately after birth there would be no instances of blindness from this cause.
Books that educate me are always a good thing and this book has sent me down a googling rabbit hole. Scary times, back then. It was also the Victorian era when repressed didn’t begin to describe how people were about sexual issues. But that is another issue altogether.
Back to the book: despite the topic I did enjoy it. The characters were diverse and for the most part well developed. There were also a variety of other issues introduced into the story including Indian and immigrant relations and the differences between city folk and country folk.
The book title as I noted, does not mean what it necessarily implies so look past it to an engrossing story about a woman working with an American icon to help many children at a time when it was not popular to do so.
Louise is a very proper woman married to a somewhat flighty man. He is well known in town and respected in spite of his idiosyncrasies. The two of them run an inn but all is not peaches and cream in their marriage. Louise has an affair with the town doctor and she finds herself pregnant. She believes that her future is assured but as is often the case, life does not follow along with the dreams we have for it.
Louise and her husband go forward with him none the wiser but when complications arise after the birth, the baby is blind. It’s not until much later that Louise finds out that her daughter is unnecessarily blind. As her tidy life starts to fall apart around her Louise finds her strength and the courage to campaign for the defenseless children who suffer from “babies’ sore eyes.”
I did not know anything at all about this condition that blinded so many children at this period in history. Not just in the United States, but all over the world. Untreated venereal disease was apparently somewhat rampant and children suffered. Babies’ sore eyes was a condition that happened when the infection got into the babies’ eyes when passing through the birth canal. It was determined that if the babies were given eye drops immediately after birth there would be no instances of blindness from this cause.
Books that educate me are always a good thing and this book has sent me down a googling rabbit hole. Scary times, back then. It was also the Victorian era when repressed didn’t begin to describe how people were about sexual issues. But that is another issue altogether.
Back to the book: despite the topic I did enjoy it. The characters were diverse and for the most part well developed. There were also a variety of other issues introduced into the story including Indian and immigrant relations and the differences between city folk and country folk.
The book title as I noted, does not mean what it necessarily implies so look past it to an engrossing story about a woman working with an American icon to help many children at a time when it was not popular to do so.
January 9, 2020
Good story
I enjoyed reading "Compromise With Sin" very much. The eye drops babies routinely get to prevent blindness today didn't happen until real people could get past bigoted and prudish views about the cause of the blindness. This book wraps this around a woman who strays in her marriage and must live with the consequences, both the joy and the pain. She has a lot of guilt but her story is very well told. Different characters are brought in, including Helen Keller which adds an interesting note to the story since she was really involved with the issue. It's good to see people change as they pushed to protect the innocent babies. I recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction so they can see where and how things have changed .
I enjoyed reading "Compromise With Sin" very much. The eye drops babies routinely get to prevent blindness today didn't happen until real people could get past bigoted and prudish views about the cause of the blindness. This book wraps this around a woman who strays in her marriage and must live with the consequences, both the joy and the pain. She has a lot of guilt but her story is very well told. Different characters are brought in, including Helen Keller which adds an interesting note to the story since she was really involved with the issue. It's good to see people change as they pushed to protect the innocent babies. I recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction so they can see where and how things have changed .
September 20, 2017
A " cannot put down"book
Louise was a strong woman, but gave into trying to be perfect and it was hard to realise she was only human. I think she said it well herself "we human beings are very complicated creatures. We cannot begin to fathom our capacity to do harm and by the same token, we cannot fathom our capacity to do good". This book is a very good read. I learned why babies have drops put in their eyes at birth, etc.
Louise was a strong woman, but gave into trying to be perfect and it was hard to realise she was only human. I think she said it well herself "we human beings are very complicated creatures. We cannot begin to fathom our capacity to do harm and by the same token, we cannot fathom our capacity to do good". This book is a very good read. I learned why babies have drops put in their eyes at birth, etc.
November 5, 2019
Don’t start this book if you don’t have time to finish it. A smooth and interesting read that is very thought provoking. It grabbed me, making me evaluate my life choices and beliefs in light of the character’s experiences and thought processes. Not exactly a jumping-for-joy feel, yet without being a downer. I really enjoyed the story.
September 18, 2017
Compromise with Si
This was a different look at a group of. women in the early 1900's who struggled with the health issues surrounding new born babies with infected eyes.
This was a different look at a group of. women in the early 1900's who struggled with the health issues surrounding new born babies with infected eyes.
September 26, 2017
This was an interesting read, with a sad theme about trying to get help for innocent babies and all the many obstacles and taboos they had to fight to get it done. An excellent book.
August 7, 2018
Good read
Really enjoyed reading this book. Held me throughout the book and was very moving. Hard to put the book down.
Really enjoyed reading this book. Held me throughout the book and was very moving. Hard to put the book down.
December 5, 2017
Leanna is a wonderful writer with a keen sense of time and place; you will love this book!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews