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Sage Winters, a teenage girl living on Staten Island with her stepdad in 1971, overhears a conversation that sends her world into a tailspin and will forever change the course of her life.\u00a0 Her mother, who died in a car accident a few years ago, originally told her that her mentally ill, twin sister, Rosemary, died of pneumonia 6 years ago.\u00a0 She is distraught to find out that her sister was, instead, sent to the Willowbrook State School (an underfunded, understaffed, and inhumane insane asylum disguised as a school).<\/p>\n
But, that\u2019s not all.\u00a0 Rosemary is missing from Willowbrook, and the staff has no idea where she has gone.\u00a0 Fearing that she was Cropsey\u2019s, Staten Island\u2019s serial killer\u2019s, latest victim, she sneaks away from her already tumultuous life and boards a bus to Willowbrook hoping to find out more information about her sister and fill in the gaps from the past 6 years.<\/p>\n
Her trip to Willowbrook is doomed from the start, but things become more complicated when she arrives at the \u201cSchool\u201d and is instantly mistaken for Rosemary.\u00a0 Nobody believes her claims to be Sage, and she is forced to become a patient at Willowbrook.<\/p>\n
Her worst nightmares would never have prepared her for the horror that is in store for her.<\/p>\n
Her quest for knowledge immediately becomes a quest for survival.<\/p>\n
When an up and coming reporter (none other than the real Geraldo Rivera) sneaks into Willowbrook and exposes the atrocities happening behind the scenes, Sage sees her chance at freedom.\u00a0 However, she starts to realize that after what she has experienced, she may never be free again.<\/p>\n
Why I read it: Recommendation in online book group<\/p>\n
Trigger warnings:\u00a0Language, mental illness, physical\/mental\/psychological abuse, rape, murder, captivity<\/p>\n
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WOW.\u00a0 Just, wow.\u00a0 I randomly saw a brief expos\u00e9 on the anniversary of the release of Geraldo\u2019s original documentary, but I didn\u2019t realize everything that had happened.\u00a0 I had NO idea.\u00a0 This book is a compilation of real people and real experiences, and each character is based on a real person (even down to Cropsey).<\/p>\n
I was impressed at the research done by the author to write a book like this.\u00a0 I learned so much, and it made me so uncomfortable and disturbed.\u00a0 It made me realize how much things have changed since the 1970\u2019s in terms of mental health and caring for people with disabilities.<\/p>\n
I went down a huge rabbit hole the night I finished this book (I read this in less than 24 hours), and I watched Geraldo\u2019s original documentary, and 2 other documentaries (one that was made in 1997 and was showcasing a few survivors and their families), and another one on Netflix that focused on Cropsey and his connection with Willowbrook (horrifying).\u00a0 Unfortunately, these are the only documentaries that I could find on Willowbrook.\u00a0 For those interested in learning more about this, take a look at the author\u2019s afterward because she lists other books written about Willowbrook.<\/p>\n
I thought the author told the story so well, and I was hooked from the beginning.\u00a0 I read a few reviews that said some people DNF (did not finish) because it was too slow (although this opinion was very much in the minority).\u00a0 I could not disagree more.\u00a0 The first chapter very much set the stage and told the story of Sage\u2019s life from the beginning.\u00a0 The information disclosed in this chapter is very important in understanding the rest of the book.\u00a0 I did not find it slow, and I certainly found it necessary.<\/p>\n
I will be looking up other books by this author.\u00a0 I loved it so much and learned a lot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"