The Girl Behind the Gates

by Brenda Davies

1939. Seventeen-year-old Nora Jennings has spent her life secure in the certainty of a bright, happy future - until one night of passion has more catastrophic consequences than she ever could have anticipated. Labelled a moral defective and sectioned under the Mental Deficiency Act, she is forced to endure years of unspeakable cruelty at the hands of those who are supposed to care for her.

1981. When psychiatrist Janet Humphreys comes across Nora, heavily institutionalised and still living in the hospital more than forty years after her incarceration, she knows that she must be the one to help Nora rediscover what it is to live. But as she works to help Nora overcome her past, Janet realises she must finally face her own.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Book Club, Mystery, Mental Health, Audiobook

352 pages, Paperback

First published May 28, 2020

About the author

Dr Brenda Davies is Consultant Psychiatrist. She holds regular workshops around the world and includes many celebrities among her clients. Having been born and raised in County Durham, England, Brenda Davies now lives very happily in Wales. She spent many years living and working abroad, in Zambia, the USA, Germany and Rome. The Girl Behind the Gates is her first novel.

Reviews

[BAM doesn’t answer to her real name · Rating 5 out of 5]

Has anyone here ever just lay back in your chair or bed, reading a heartbreaking story and you’re holding it all together, when suddenly the character you care about so much, the character who has survived through such senseless adversity is so excited about life because she has learned she can “ belong to the library”? Two or three books are enough right now…
God I’m losing it right now oh no I mean I’m asking for a friend

God DAMN THIS BOOK! I don’t cry! BAM is granite hearted. I DO NOT CRY! Stupid frickin book! I hate you book I hate you
Srsly I did not expect this AT ALL. I mean I knew it was based on a true account, which was bad enough, but I’ve read several books in the last several months about this same topic and I was fine. This author, the one with whom I share a name, did the impossible-she made me feel like I was Nora. I CANT EVEN DRINK FROM MY COFFEE MUG MY HAND IS SHAKING!
I’ll admit however that I wasn’t crazy about a subplot going forward, but that’s my problem because if that lady (and what a heart this lady has) if that lady is truly based upon someone in Nora’s life she was an absolute god send. Really even if she was a conglomeration of multiple characters or completely created from the air, she was definitely needed for this story to be told so smoothly and emotionally. I was totally ready to give this book three stars. Now I’ve determined that it’s getting five. I could read this again and I think it would still smack me in the face continuously like it did today.

The synopsis should have read somewhere “oh and BAM, there may just be a trigger warning. Just saying’” thanks publishers and editors!

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nora Jenning’s parents Henry and Mildred are dismayed when they find out their daughter is pregnant at the age of seventeen. It’s 1939 and her family ship her off to a mental asylum.

This is such a heart wrenching book as Nora’s treatment in the home is barbaric and they take away a large proportion of her life.

Nora is a strong character as she not only survives this tragedy, but she also rebuilds her life. She is a true inspiration to us all.

This is beautifully written and the fact that it is based on a true story broke my heart but the strength of Nora had me smiling at the end.

The quote “The measure of our greatness is in how we stand up after we fall” is so appropriate and is something we can all use in our lives.

I have never been so emotionally touched by a book before and Nora you will stay in my heart long after finishing this story.

I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to read about Nora’s life.

A must read book, but have the tissue nearby.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review

[Louise Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

1939: Nora Jennings is just seventeen when a ight of passion leads to more catastrophic consequences. Shes labelled a moral defective and sectioned under the Mental Health Deficiency Act. She spent years of unspeakable cruelty from the people who were supposed to care for her.

1981: Janet Humphreys is a psychiatrist. She discovers Nora still living in the hospital forty years after her incarceration. She knows she has to help oral overcome her past.

This is quite a harrowing book to read. It tells how society treated people back then. Women were labelled as mentally defective if they were pregnant and ot married. Thank goodness times have changed. This is an emotional roller coaster read. It's also hard to read in places but it's also incredibly rewarding. Janet also has a backstory and somehow, Janet and Nora's stories are connected. This is a beautifully written story. Just make sure you have the tissues before you start reading. I do recommend this book.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Hodder & Stoughton and the author Brenda Davies for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Catalina · Rating 3 out of 5]

More like 2.5*

A very powerful start. Such rawness, so much heartbreak and full blown rage. It is unbelievable such things used to happen: perfectly healthy individuals locked up for nothing. And the treatment received once there..My gosh. My heart broke for Nora with every line of her story.
But a rather disappointing development and boring end. We are being introduced to a second plot line - Janet's "story". First of all I am not sure what's the reasoning behind it, as I don't think it was necessary and secondly we are not even given enough details to make something of it...it really felt as a filler! On top of that Nora's story/development, what ever you want to call it, just dragged and dragged to the point I was truly bored and looking forward to be done with it!

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I could give my rating to each of the halves of this book separately, the first half would be 5 stars and the second half would be a reluctant 2 stars. The first half tells Nora's story while it's happening. It's heart wrenching, brutal, but entirely engrossing and well written. It's so tragic to imagine what she went through and experienced and to realize that the "real" Nora and so many other women experienced that.

The second half of the book discusses Nora's "rebirth" 50 years later and revolves around a psychiatrist named Janet. This part of the book is a slog... it took me entirely too long to get through it, and I finally pushed through just to be done with it. It's extremely repetitive and the entirely could've been relayed in a couple of short chapters. But it goes on and on. And Janet is not a fully developed character. The author hints to the issues she had with her own parents, but it's never explained. So when she reconnects with them in the end, it's unsatisfying. I don't know what the problem and reason for estrangement were in the first place. And her relationship with her husband... what? Either leave it out or flesh it out! They had some issues, I guess, then reconnected? It was all vague and again, unsatisfying. I honestly don't know the point of this character.

So all in all, I'd have to recommend skipping this one. The first half is beautiful, but the second half feels like a chore. A dreaded chore.

[Renita D'Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Compelling. Poignant. Haunting. Heart wrenching. An eye-opener of a story that will stay with you long after you've read the last page. Hard to believe this is a debut as the writing is assured and beautiful, the characters vividly brought to life on the page. I lived every minute of this harrowing story and felt for Nora. A thought provoking story that will resonate with everyone. Just beautiful. Everyone needs to read this wonderful book

[Antonio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unsettling fictionalised true story of Nora Who at 17 years old and pregnant tried to hide her growing stomach from her strict father.
Found out by her parents, she is punched and beaten with her fathers belt, dragged out of the house and taken to a mental asylum where she is treated like an animal until she is no more than a shell.
When her baby is born the cruel nurse in charge leaves the little girl to die on the washroom slab.
Nora suffers many more inhuman indignities in her nearly 50 years incarceration, but you have to read the book for the full horror of this excellent story.

[Cherihy808 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️. Hmmm I’m not really sure where to start for this review. So the first half of the book was REALLY good…5 star good! It was very sad and often hard to read at times because it was so heart breaking to imagine what Nora went through being hospitalized. And to think that this was based on a true story made it even sadder. As far as the characters, I think the author did a great job describing each one. There were so many that I really liked: Nurse Hatton, Mrs. Lampster, Dr. Stilworth, Joe and even Janet (although at times I feel her character’s story was a bit of a “filler”. I don’t think all the chapters about her life and marriage needed to be in the book…I often found myself bored reading about her). Sister Cummings was pure evil and the things she did to Nora were awful. To get back to the story, the first 2/3 was really good but then I almost feel like the last 1/3 was written by a completely different person. It was so slow and drawn out. It was nice to read about Nora finally getting the chance to live a normal life but there was so much repetition that it seemed to drag on and on. At about 75-80%, I was still at maybe a 4 star but then the ending was so bad that I just had to lower it to 3. I don’t want to give spoilers, but anyone who read it will know what I mean when I say that the first shocking “twist” revealed about Robert was terribly written AND the second “twist” was even dumber and had me completely rolling my eyes as I was reading. Ultimately this is not a book that will be memorable for me and sadly I would not recommend it. The description and first half will suck you in, but the second half and ending will have you wishing you didn’t waste your time.

[Crystal Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay, but I certainly didn't love it. The first half was brutal and sad. The second half focused more on recovery and new characters introduced; it felt like a different book.

Characters: ★
Writing: ★
Level of Enjoyment: ★
I Recommend: The House by the Sea

[Shirley McAllister · Rating 5 out of 5]

A secret hidden, a wasted life

Wow is all I can say. This book is a tearjerker for sure. To know that it is based on a true story is even more heartbreaking. I even had to put it down a couple of times and come back to it. How can this ever happen to anyone? How could parents do this to their child?

Nora is a good child. She gets good grades in school, she minds her parents, and she sings in the church choir and plays the piano. All is happy and well in her family. She grows up with her cousin Robert. One day, one time only, they make love and she becomes pregnant. When her parents find out she is beaten by her father and with the advice of the priest she is sent to a mental institution for being defective.

This is the story of the over 40 years she spent there, her life, her lost dreams, the treatment and her finally giving up and becoming institutionalized. It is the story of the Doctor Janet that came to work there and brought back the spark of life to Nora. After 40 some years in the institution Nora’s remarkable progress and her healing.

It is also the story of the Doctor Janet that has some healing of her own to do. Estranged from her parents and also her husband she must deal with the problems that caused the breakup of her marriage. She works intensely with Nora because at the same age she became pregnant and married her husband. She feels that for the grace of God she could have been in Nora’s shoes. Working with Nora helps her heal herself.

This is a beautiful story of healing, even though it is a traumatic story of the injustice done to a young woman just beginning her life. The story is beautifully written, the characters and wonderful, believable, and pertinent to the story.

I would recommend this book.

Thanks to Brenda Davies, Hodder and Stoughton, and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advance copy for an honest review.

[Dem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this heartbreaking story of institutionalized 17 year old Nora who at the age of 17 finds herself pregnant and spends nearly 50 years in a mental Asylum. Set in 1939 a time when single pregnant women were treated as criminals.

Beautifully written and based on a true story this was an emotional and memorable read.

[Shannon West · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did I read the same book as everyone else who rated this 5 stars?! This was melodramatic and cheesy. The characters were stereotypes and the pacing was off. The premise was good, but execution severely flawed. I couldn’t wait for it to end.

[Kayleigh P · Rating 1 out of 5]

Impossible to get through. Wonderful concept, disappointing execution.

[Booked for Life · Rating 3 out of 5]

EDIT: Actual rating 3.5

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing an ARC for review.

This is an intense, emotional read about a young, unmarried mother-to-be who becomes a victim of the Mental Deficiency Act of 1913. Deemed a 'moral defective', she is sent to a mental institution where she suffers decades of all types of abuse, which the author doesn't shy away from portraying.

This story is brutal, horrific, and devastating, made all the more so by being based on true events. While I have no issue reading about some of the acts committed in this book, many would find them traumatizing, so I would say, 'blanket trigger warning for this entire book, but especially the first half.' There is a light at the end of the tunnel. The second half of the book is predominantly about surviving and healing, learning to live a full life despite trauma doing its best to hold you back.

I give this book three stars because, while I liked it, I didn't love it. A couple parts dragged a bit, and the doctor's story line in the second half of the book felt both incomplete and slightly out of place. I can understand why it was there, but I would rather it had been fully explored, or omitted entirely. I also didn't completely jive with the author's writing style. The writing was accessible, but shifted between being simple and straightforward, and being somewhat poetic. However, it is her first novel (she is a psychiatrist who has, I believe, written non-fiction pieces), so it's somewhat expected that she may not have found her preferred style yet.

That said, I think this is an incredibly important book. It shows a dark piece of recent history of which many people are probably unaware, just like I was. I knew that psychiatric patients get a bad rap even today, and were treated even more poorly in the past, but I never understood the extent of it, or the reasoning behind it. So, despite its flaws, I would highly recommend giving this book a read, if you think you can handle the content.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the first half of this book - interesting but shocking to read about the treatment of a young unmarried mother in the 1940s and beyond, and to understand how psychiatric practices have developed over the last 100 years. The second half of the book was less impactful for me - the storyline about Nora’s “recovery”felt too drawn out and the focus on the psychiatrist’s own life story seemed superfluous.

[Ashley Noble · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m speechless! This book is incredibly bittersweet. I’ve never felt such a wide range of emotions. So raw and heartbreaking.

[Aly Lauck · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly moving piece of historical fiction. Nora’s story will stay with me for a long time. My takeaway from this is to appreciate every new day as it is a gift. I take so much for granted in my life and make several mistakes everyday. The consequence to Nora’s action is not justifiable. Beautifully told. I love historical fiction books like these that can shed light on what we can do better as a world for future generations.

[Laurean · Rating 3 out of 5]

While Nora's true story is horrifyingly interesting, shocking, and compelling, the writing was repetitive, and the Janet story unnecessary. I could skip pages and find the characters' dialogue four pages over, the very same. It went on and on. I followed Nora's story to it's happy end-- if it's resolution is believable. Perhaps the "Oh so loving" Robert could have intervened years and years earlier, due to his authority, and helped Nora. She had no one. A letter and some money 50 years later doesn't get it! Nora's story illustrates the extreme prejudices, injustices, and utter hatred that society, and especially the Catholic Church historically dealt out to girls and women who did not conform or deviated in some way due to dire circumstances. To me Robert was the one to be hated. He impregnated teen Nora, then abandoned her, and because he was an aristocratic man, became a high government official living a privileged life, while Nora is beaten and sterilized by the despicable nun, Sister Cummings. If anyone was a moral defective it was Nora's father, the abusive sperm bank, her mother, who allowed her talented and beautiful only child to be beaten with a belt, Robert, who used Nora sexually to discover his own homosexuality, and the Catholic Church, represented by the cruel, sadistic Sister Cummings, and their practices. Read The Magdalen by Marita Conlon-McKenna, watch Philomena with Judi Dench on streaming channels or read The Wonder by Emma Donoghue. Heartbreaking that so many young girls, women, babies have been systematically destroyed.

[Erin Workman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won’t write a synopsis, but I do want to write some of my thoughts.

I’m not sure how many times I had to set this book down because my crying eyes were useless for reading, but it was a lot. Nora endured countless horrors and relentless heartbreak while decades of her life were stolen. I know without a doubt I wouldn’t have survived it. She truly was a special woman. And she didn’t just survive…she overcame.

Nora’s story is difficult to read (especially as a fairly emotional, empathetic type of person) but what an honor and privilege it was for me to read it. To allow this stolen life the time and space to make a lasting impact on my heart, inspire me to continue to step forward when I’m afraid, to treasure my children and not take their presence for granted…(ah, so many things).

I wish that we could go back in time and restore her lost years, remove her pain and the tragedy she needlessly suffered. Of course we can’t, but allowing her story to positively impact my future is the very least I can do.

Ten very emotional stars! All the stars!

[Fiona Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gosh, what a heartbreaking story this is and a sad education on the reality of how mental illness was viewed and treated in the early 1900’s. This true story moved me to tears on more than one occasion and it will be one that stays with me in years to come. I enjoyed the way it was written in two parts, focusing on the lives of two women and how they impacted each other’s recovery. I’d love to know where Nora is now, what an inspiring lady she is! 4.5 stars from me.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a tough read. It is heavy topic, and the way that Nora is treated is absolutely horrifying. And when its coming from someone in the church? Terrible. But alas, that’s the way things were in 1939. It wasn’t until many years later did this get corrected. A lot of the scenes are heartbreaking due to the cruel treatment, but there is one beautiful, heartbreaking scene that made me cry. I am always interested in learning about historical things, so it was somewhat interesting. However, the book was slow moving, and not because of the topic. I thought the author focused to much on Janet’s personal matters in the second half of the book. I wanted the focus to be on Nora. I don’t know of any other books out there on this topic (doesn’t mean there aren’t any), but if there are, they may be better than this one.

[Tracy Brower · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was okay. Just okay. I didn’t find the characters particularly interesting and the story was a bit flat (despite the trauma and abuse—which were hard). Things happened, but I was never drawn in. At some points today’s slang got in the way (‘baby bump’ in 1939?) and events were predictable.

[Lourdes Coates · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a heartbreaking yet uplifting story. Truly a testament to the resilience of the human spirit. I was angry at the treatment of patients in mental health facilities but also so thankful to those that exhibit kindness. Truly a story of hope, and survival. This is a must read

[Ethan Nash · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very moving and inspiring read

[Cathie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel is based on a true story set in England in 1939. Nora a teenager is pregnant. When she finally tells her father, he beats her and then sends her to a mental institution. She is considered to be moral defective. She never receives any visits or letters from her parents or the father of her baby. She is kept separate and told she will infect others. Very, very sad story. Be sure to have a tissue when you read this.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s been a very long time since I read a book that I couldn’t put down. This was that book. I don’t know why, I can’t quite put my finger on it but I was hooked from the off. So, some of my thoughts to follow.

Told in the present tense, our third person narrator is somewhat omnipresent and omniscient… that or it switches between POV characters quite without warning. The choice to do this is well done, I don’t generally like books written in the present tense, but this one worked quite well, giving the story a sense of urgency I feel.

Though I enjoyed the whole book, I found myself significantly less interested in Janet’s story than I was in Nora’s. I also wasn’t struck on the pacing of the story as a whole - there should have been more scene-setting right at the beginning, and less of Nora’s talk about being part of a choir at the end. The jump from harrowing tale of incarceration in the 40s is juxtaposed against the happy-clappy normalcy of Nora’s life and freedom on the outside and I struggled with that a little. But despite this, it is more a criticism to say that the book could have been better, even though it was already top notch.

The characterisation was excellent. I hated the characters you are supposed to hate, and loved the ones we are meant to like. At times my blood boiled at the injustice of what was happening, or my heart would sing when nice things happened, and that is the sign of a good book.

The story isn’t for everyone. The theme and contents are harrowing and emotional and at points sickening to read. It’s said to be based on a true story which makes it all the more vile. But it’s a tale that needed to be told, if that is true. Would I recommend this book? A hundred times over.

[Valerie Thirkettle-Kayser · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Girl Behind the Gates is an amazing book. The story starts in 1939 when Nora, then just a teenager, finds herself pregnant. There begins the harrowing story this young woman being labelled as morally defective and sectioned under the Mental Deficiency Act. In this incredibly hard first half of the book, Brenda Davies takes us to the institution where Nora is kept and we find ourselves drawn into the violence, the loss, the pain that Nora suffers, the lack of trust in those who surround her, the refuge she finds inside herself, and a helping hand from time to time. We learn about the conditions in which people like Nora were kept at this period, the treatments they suffered, and how they lost their freedom and, often, their minds, in such an unfair manner. But Nora’s life changes when she meets Janet Humphreys in 1981. Janet is a psychiatrist and her impact on Nora’s life will be amazing, thanks to her more modern methods, her remarkable patience, her deep care and concern for Nora, her ability to relate to her own life. This book is deeply moving and definitely makes a mark on the reader, bringing tears of sadness and of joy. It is based on a true story and it is with great admiration that I think of those who were a part of it, especially Nora and our author Brenda Davies.
Thank you to NetGalley, Hodder and Stoughton and the author Brenda Davies for the opportunity to read this Advanced Readers Copy of "The Girl Behind the Gates"
#TheGirlBehindtheGates #NetGalley

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good description of some true, but horrific events. Nora, a 17-year-old girl in 1930's England, becomes pregnant and uses strychnine to try to abort the baby. The baby survives, but Nora is declared morally defective and is sent to live the rest of her life in an insane asylum. At the asylum, sadistic Sister Cummings physically and emotionally abuses Nora for many years. The dished out abuse includes harsh labor assignments, slaps and kicks, vicious insults, letting Nora's baby die from hypothermia, forced sterilization, electric shock therapy, and much more. Incredibly depressed and traumatized, Nora becomes catatonic.

Eventually, Sister Cummings is fired, and better psychologists and caregivers help Nora recover. Nevertheless, Nora remains in the asylum until the 1990's, partially because she has become so institutionalized that she is afraid of living in the outside world.

For two-thirds of the book, I was fully engaged. But the final third of the book seemed dragged out with too much backstory on some of the characters and too much repetition.

[Donna Bletz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Girl Behind the Gates will stay with me for a long time. It is based on a true story of a 17 year old girl that was institutionalized because she got pregnant. This was under the Medical Deficiency Act in 1939 She was labeled a moral defective. She was institutionalized for over 40 years until in 1981 a psychiatrist comes across her and begins to help her.

[Erin Pack · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book but it kinda fell flat for me. The first half although very sad was well written but the second half did a complete 180 and I didn’t enjoy it as much. There was also a complete shift in tone and the second half really dragged on and I found it lacking the depth to the story that was originally present.