Book Review
From Chelsea Weibley at the Library

The Lost Girls of Willowbrook by Ellen Marie Wiseman

“It was just easier to believe in the boogeyman than to acknowledge that there were so many evil people in the world.”

It’s 1971 on Staten Island and Sage Winters is living with Alan, her stepfather. She had a twin sister, Rosemary who died six years ago from pneumonia and her mother passed away in a car accident. Sage overhears a conversation between Alan and his friend and realizes Rosemary is alive, but recently went missing. Rosemary was committed to Willowbrook State School six years ago but staff at the school cannot find her.

Sage decides to go to Willowbrook to help in the search for her sister. Things definitely do not go according to plan and Sage learns much more about this “school” than she ever hoped to learn.

This story blends fact and fiction and had me doing online searches for the history of Willowbrook State School. The horrors of Willowbrook in this book were absolutely based in fact and I cannot believe it operated as long as it did. The writing in this story was a bit more simplistic (more YA in writing), but the story and basis in fact made this winning historical fiction.

If you enjoy historical fiction and suspense, I recommend this book!

Check out The Lost Girls of Willowbrook for yourself from the Library (https://catalog.lclibs.org/polaris/search/title.aspx…).