I have just finished reading a new book called The Girls with No Name by Serena Burdick. The novel is based on some facts about the House of Mercy, in New York that was run by Catholic nuns for "fallen women".  I had heard of the Catholic laundries in Ireland where women worked basically as slaves which came to light a number of years ago and they were held responsible for it.  According to the Afterwword, that never happened in America so I was ignorant that the same thing had happened  over here.  Usually I don't bother to read the Afterword at the end of a novel but came across a paragraph that I thought was interesting. Quote: These socially acceptable establishments imprisoned, abused and enslaves women and children while the church made millions from their laundry service and lace making. There was no mention of lace making in the novel and I wonder if that happened at the House of Mercy and Inwood House, also in NY.  Maybe some of our local lacemakers in NY have heard about that aspect of it. I almost cried at the end of the book, and I don't get emotional.  Janice
Janice Blair Murrieta, CA, jblace.com - To unsubscribe send email to majord...@arachne.com containing the line: unsubscribe lace y...@address.here. For help, write to arachne.modera...@gmail.com. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
