The Lost Girls of Willowbrook: A Heartbreaking Novel of Survival Based on True History

by Ellen Marie Wiseman

Paperback, 2022

Status

Available

Genres

Publication

Kensington (2022), 384 pages

Description

Fiction. Literature. Historical Fiction. In this powerful novel of survival and resilience, New York Times bestselling author Ellen Marie Wiseman takes readers on a gripping, emotional journey as one brave young woman's search for the truth about her sister leads her to an infamous institution called Willowbrook ... Sage Winters always knew her sister was a little different even though they were identical twins. They loved the same things and shared a deep understanding, but Rosemary�??awake to every emotion, easily moved to joy or tears�??seemed to need more protection from the world. Six years after Rosemary's death from pneumonia, Sage, now sixteen, still misses her deeply. Their mother perished in a car crash, and Sage's stepfather, Alan, resents being burdened by a responsibility he never wanted. Yet despite living as near strangers in their Staten Island apartment, Sage is stunned to discover that Alan has kept a shocking secret: Rosemary didn't die. She was committed to Willowbrook State School and has lingered there until just a few days ago, when she went missing. Sage knows little about Willowbrook. It's always been a place shrouded by rumor and mystery. A place local parents threaten to send misbehaving kids. With no idea what to expect, Sage secretly sets out for Willowbrook, determined to find Rosemary. What she learns, once she steps through its doors and is mistakenly believed to be her sister, will change her life in ways she never could imagin… (more)

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Rating

(59 ratings; 4)

User reviews

LibraryThing member jetangen4571

historical-places-events, historical-figures, historical-research, historical-setting, history-and-culture, invisible-disability, disability, discrimination, disbelieved, twins, lies, secrets, sanitarium, asylum, true-horror, survival, suspense, suspicion, abuse, murder, triggers*****

In a time when

there was only minimal medication for mental illness and shunning/fear of people with intellectual disabilities, there were "sanitariums" and "asylums" that became places of true horror. Not only in the distant past, or in the time of Nelly Bly and Jacob Riis, but from 1947 until 1987 right here in the US. This is a fictionalized story about horrible things that actually did happen and the bravery and fortitude of one young woman who overcame/survived and then went on to help others to learn to live with what happened to them. A difficult read for many of us.
I requested and received an e-book copy from Kensington Books via NetGalley. Thank you

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LibraryThing member CassiesBooksReader

The Lost Girls of Willowbrook by Ellen Marie Wiseman is a Novel set in 1970’s New York. A young girl from a very troubled family looks for her twin sister and finds herself living a life of unimaginable horror. Will she find her sister and escape a place that could only be designed by pure evil?

Excellent, a well written story with realistic characters, who are quite frightening and the stuff of nightmares. Obvious extensive research based on real historic facts and people woven into an exciting fictional story that reads like history.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. I appreciate the opportunity and thank the author and publisher for allowing me to read, enjoy and review this book. 5 Stars

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LibraryThing member alekee

A story that is fiction, but touches on fact. Yes, parents were encouraged to send their children to places such as Willowbrook, and yes, it really existed on Staten Island NY.
The author gives us a story that makes you want to yell "No", when Sage enters the facility to look for her sister

Rosemary.
Yes, I was able to figure out whom the killer was ahead of time, but it took a bit, and this will keep you holding your breath as you turn the pages for answers.
Reads like this help us to remember that this horrible treatment of people should never happen again!
If you like suspense, this one will keep you guessing, and changing your mind, and waiting for more surprises!
I received this book through Net Galley and the Publisher Kensington, and was not required to give a positive review.

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LibraryThing member Dianekeenoy

I remember the special report that a very young Geraldo Rivera did on the horrific conditions at Willowbrook in Staten Island back in 1972 more than a decade before it was finally shut down. It's something you never forget. Wiseman uses the real-life Willowbrook State School as the main character

in this book about a young woman, Sage looking for her missing twin sister who she thought died 6 years earlier. Very harrowing narrative.

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LibraryThing member SilversReviews

Imagine finding out that your twin sister hadn't passed away but has been in an institution.

A horrible institution for the mentally challenged and an institution that tortured the patients and didn't take proper care of them.

Sage overheard her stepfather talking with a friend about how the school

called and said Rosemary ran away again.

When Sage confronts him about it, he denies it. He then explains that he and her mother thought it would be better if Sage had thought Rosemary had passed away.

Sage was furious - knowing her sister was still alive and she could have visited her was heartbreaking.

Sage made a decision to go to the school and help find her sister.

She told no one her plans, got on a bus dressed in clothing not suitable for winter, had her purse stolen, and got pulled into the bowels of the institution with the doctors and nurses thinking she is her sister....the missing Rosemary.

What a nightmare, and to think this is based on a true story and where they put mentally challenged children for over 40 years until it was exposed by Gerald Rivera.

Ms. Wiseman takes us inside to witness the treatment of these girls and of Sage's nightmare of trying to tell everyone she is NOT Rosemary.

They tell her that is part of her disease - Rosemary at times said she was Sage.

Reading this will appall you when you learn about the treatment of these men, women, and children.

You will also feel sorry for Sage as she sees it all and lives through it.

I was shaking as we followed Sage through everything she endured and witnessed.

THE LOST GIRLS OF WILLOWBROOK and what horrors happened inside come alive with Ms. Wiseman's detailed writing style and flowing story line. 5/5

This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

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LibraryThing member fredreeca

Sage has just discovered her twin sister is missing. She has thought for years that her twin, Rosemary, died. But Sage has now discovered her mother placed her in Willowbrook School and kept it a secret from Sage. Well, Sage is going to help. She tells no one she is leaving to go help with the

search of her sister. Little does Sage know, but this is going to turn into a nightmare.

Sage is mistaken for her missing twin Rosemary and she is committed to Willowbrook herself. All her efforts fail to convince the powers that be that she is, in fact, Sage. But, what she discovers is a nightmare. The residents are living in inhumane conditions and neglect. Sage is powerless.

This book wore me out. Talk about intense! I just kept reading faster and faster…I had to get Sage out of danger! And to know this is based on a real place…You can read about it here. I cannot fathom! I do not understand how people can mistreat other people to this extent.

This is a book you will not soon forget! Sage’s difficult situation just kept getting worse as the story went on. You finally think she is out of the woods…but life turns on a dime and she is back in a mess!

Need a book you can’t put down…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

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LibraryThing member susan0316

This well-written and well-researched novel looks at the true horrors in institutions for people with mental disabilities and the way that they were treated in these institutions. It's difficult to read in parts because of the abuse of these people but I think it's a very important story that needs

to be read so that we can all make sure that facilities like this never exist again.

It's 1971 when sixteen year old Sage overhears her stepfather discussing the phone call that he'd just received from Willowbook School and the report that his step daughter Rosemary was missing. Sage demanded information from him and found out that her mother had lied to her six years earlier when she was told that her twin sister had died. She's shocked that Rosemary is in an institution and that she hadn't been told because she knew that she's have visited so that Rosemary knew she was loved. After a night out with friends, she decides to go to Willowbrook to help in the search for her sister. Her purse gets stolen from the bus and she has no way to prove her identity and when she shows up at the school, the administrators were sure that she was Rosemary and put back into her room. Even though she tried to explain, they didn't know that Rosemary had a twin plus Sage had no identification so no one paid any attention to her explanations. Her life in the institution is terrible. At first she thinks that because this is a school, she will have classes to attend and is shocked when she finds out that Willowbrook is just a dumping ground for people with mental disabilities. Sage finds out that the school is overcrowded and filled with neglected, over medicated people who are fed and treated horribly by a staff that just doesn't care about the patients. Will Sage find someone she can trust who will believe that she is not Rosemary?

This was a tough book to read about the way that people in this institution were treated. The most interesting part of the story was seeing the changes in Sage. When she first went to try to find her sister, she was a party girl - more interested in spending time with her friends and having a few drinks. Her time in Willowbrook made her a strong and resilient young woman determined to help the residents of the school.

I watched the 1972 expose of Willowbrook school done by Geraldo Rivera and it was a horrific look at he way mentally disabled people were treated at this so called school. We need to make sure that we learn from our pasts and nothing like this is allowed to happen again.

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LibraryThing member Micareads

All her life Sage has believed that her twin sister, Rosemary died after a severe bout of pneumonia…at least that was what her parents told her. Six years after Rosemary's death, Sage overhears a conversation between her stepfather and his friend, discussing the fact that Rosemary has gone

missing from Willowbrook; the state-run facility for the mentally ill with its own myth by the name of Cropsey who wanders the grounds killing the patients.

In a bid to help find her sister, Rosemary takes a trip to Willowbrook and wants to apologize for not going to see her. As she wonders what her sister has been doing this whole time, she fails to pay attention to the fact that her purse has been stolen - along with any identifying information. When she arrives at Willowbrook, those in charge, unknowing that Sage exists, assume she is Rosemary and immediately throws her into a room and sedate her. When she awakens, she sees the horrors inflicted on her sister day after day for the last six years and feels even worse at not knowing she was sent there.

When it is discovered that Rosemary was murdered and Sage is finally released from the facility, the hunt begins for the killer who has been haunting Staten Island and has made the Willowbrook campus his hunting ground.

Willowbrook was exposed by Geraldo Rivera in 1972 when he and a news crew into the facility and showed the world how understaffed the hospital was as well as the conditions of the patients who were suffering from lack of care. This book was well researched and the first few chapters were very hard to read as the author describes what the ward looked, felt, and smelled like; it made me shudder many times over.

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LibraryThing member rmarcin

Thanks to Kensington for providing me with this amazing book that tells in historical fiction form the story of the Willowbrook institution on Staten Island. When Sage Winters discovers that her twin sister, Rosemary, is not dead, but is actually living at The Willowbrook State School she is

shocked and heartbroken. She travels to the school to see her sister. However, upon arrival, the staff believes that Sage is actually Rosemary, and they lock her up in the institution. The conditions are deplorable, and no one will believe her. Finally, a janitor, Eddie, befriends her and plans to help her escape. Sage discovers more terrifying secrets about the institution, and people start dying. Sage is desperate to escape.
This is a terrifying expose of the conditions of these state institutions. Mental health is not something to be looked at as a condition to lock someone up and treat them in such awful ways.

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LibraryThing member juju2cat

The horrors of this institution are made worse by the fact that this is based on a true story. I was overcome with depression and anger reading the book. It was only towards the end that I was able to calm down. If I had been admitted to this travesty of a "school" I too would have sought out the

Angel of Death.

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LibraryThing member Cherylk

I have never heard of Willowbrook but this expose by Geraldo Rivera was before I was born. After reading this book, I did research more about the tragic events that took place at Willowbrook. They are so sad. The residents did not deserve the inhuman treatment that she had to endure.

Reading this

book, does showcase just how very important mental health is needed. It is a topic that is getting more spotlight attention shown on it but there is more to be done.

Instantly, I imagined the horror and fear that Sage might have felt when she entered this facility in search of her sister. With each new day, Sage uncovered so many secrets. I really could not believe what I was reading but at the same time I could not stop reading. Having finished this book, I will be checking out more books by this author.

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LibraryThing member jbarr5

The Lost girls of willow brook by Ellen Marie Wiseman
This story starts out with Sage and she learns her sister who's like a twin to her is really alive. She had been told her died from pneumonia years ago.
She's been living at the state institution Willow Brook and now she's gone missing. Their

mother is dead now and they live with Alan, who's not their father.
She plans to head to the woods nearby the building and look for any clues about Rosemary. Love that the mother named her daughters after herbs: Sage and Rosemary.
I received this review book from The Kensington Books and this is my honest opinion.
Bit creepy and very scary for me but a good story. Like simple things like making fairy things from twigs and things found on forest floor.
So sad when she shows up to ask about her missing sister they capture her, inject her and now she's Rosemary.
The state school is described to every detail that is so chilling it's a horror to me. With help from a janitor they find the real Rosemary.
You wonder if she will ever be released as she's not the one that needs to be in there. She only has a few people she trusts....
You also wonder what else is going to happen as things seem calm again...til more show up dead. so creepy and horrid.
I received this review book from The Kensington Between The Chapters Review Books and this is my honest opinion.

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LibraryThing member BridgetteS

The Lost Girls of Willowbrook is a top-notch well-written historical fiction novel. It was full of suspense and grief that these practices happen. It was really hard to put the book down once I started. The research the author put into this is unmatched!

LibraryThing member pdebolt

This is a haunting reminder of the horrific conditions in many of the state-run institutions in the mid-20th century where brutality, starvation and reprehensible staff members made the patients' lives a living nightmare. When Geraldo Rivera exposed the horrendous conditions of Willowbrook Hospital

in New York, it brought the deplorable conditions into the homes of many people who had no knowledge of Willowbrook. This is a well-researched story, describing in vivid detail all that the patients endured.

I felt that the plot was very thin with some parts that stretched credulity, and the characters very one-dimensional. The repetition was extensive. It was worth reading, however, for the historical, irrefutable facts

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LibraryThing member srms.reads

Happy Publication Day! (August 30,2022)

In 1971, sixteen-year-old Sage Winters overhears her stepfather Alan and his friend Larry discussing the recent disappearance of Sage’s twin sister Rosemary from the premises of Willowbrook State School in Staten Island, New York. Unbeknownst to Sage, her

mentally disturbed sister had been sent away to Willowbrook six years ago. Sage had been told by her now-deceased mother that Rosemary had died from pneumonia. Sage is shocked by the revelation that her sister, whom she loved and still grieves for, is alive. Concerned for her sister’s well-being, she travels alone to Willowbrook to assist in the search efforts. She has also heard rumors of a serial killer who kidnaps and kills his victims and is said to commit his crimes in and around the area. However, upon her arrival, things do not go as planned. Mistaken for her absconding twin sister, Sage is institutionalized and what follows is nothing less than a nightmare. Sage soon realizes that this is no School but a “dumping ground for the broken and insane and the unwanted”. She witnesses firsthand the neglect, abusive treatment and horrific living conditions within the closed walls of the facility.

What happened to Rosemary? Is there anyone in Willowbrook she can trust? How can Sage prove her true identity before it’s too late? Is the rumored serial killer with ties to Willowbrook more than just an urban legend?

Informative, fast-paced and suspenseful, I found The Lost Girls of Willowbrook by Ellen Marie Wiseman hard to put down. The author brilliantly combines fact and fiction in this hard-hitting, gripping and intense novel.

Please note that this is not an easy read.
In reality, Willowbrook State School was a state-supported facility for the treatment of developmentally disabled children that was in operation between 1947 and 1987. Though there were rumors of questionable medical practices and unsanitary living conditions (Senator Robert F. Kennedy called it a "snake pit" after touring the facility in 1965), Willowbrook garnered national attention after an expose by investigative journalist Geraldo Rivera in 1972. The atrocities inflicted upon the vulnerable residents of Willowbrook are unimaginable and the author does not hold back in describing the depravity and inhuman conditions the patients of Willowbrook had to endure including the physical and sexual abuse, experimental treatments and filthy living conditions. The author also incorporates the urban legend of the serial killer “Cropsey” with the narrative of Willowbrook. The author’s note at end of the book is quite informative and tells us more about the facility, its history and the aftermath of the scandal. Readers interested to know more can go through the news articles, documentaries and reports on the overpopulated and understaffed Willowbrook State School and its survivors, to get a more historically accurate picture of what went on behind the closed doors of the infamous facility and the events following Rivera's exposé till the facility was finally closed down in 1987.

Many thanks to Kensington Books and NetGalley for providing a digital review copy of this exceptional book. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

This book is due for release on August 30, 2022.

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LibraryThing member JillHannah

I'm not going to lie. This was a difficult book to read in the beginning, difficult because it's based on true events, and although we read of the horrors of prisoners of war, concentration camps, and other atrocities, I think what made this story even more horrific is it happened to people who

were supposed to be cared for. And the fact it happened while I was growing up (I'm roughly the same age as Sage, the main character in the book in 1971.)
I've read and loved every book by this author, and although I received an eBook copy of this story from NetGalley, I also purchased the paperback because I own all her other books and knew this would be another must-have for me.
The difficult part of the story (for me) was finding out how people KNEW the treatment was horrific at Willowbrook, yet nothing was done about it for years. As with many historical fiction books I read, I often broke away from the story to Google the reality part of the book. Watch the YouTube video of Geraldo Rivera's 1972 as he exposed what was going on in Willowbrook, even though Robert Kennedy toured Willowbrook in 1965 and called it a snake pit.
I love Sage's tenacity as she pushes to find answers to what really happened with her twin sister, and how she manages to self-preserve in a life full of adults letting her down.
I appreciate the story bringing this tragic piece of history to light, and also the plot twists to the story. Ellen Marie Wiseman writes relatable characters and wonderful (if disturbing!) historical fiction. Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book, and I am glad I purchased a paperback of the story so I can read it again.

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LibraryThing member brenczkowski

This book was upsetting when reading it knowing that in some respects it was true. There really was a place Willowbrook and it was for children who had mental issues and it wasn’t a place you would want your mentally challenged child to be. The story is about Sage finding out her sister Rosemary,

who is in Willowbrook, is missing and decides to go to search for her and find out why she didn’t even know she was there. Sage was told Rosemary had died. When she got to Willowbrook, administration thought she was Rosemary and no matter what Sage said they didn't believe her and they locked her up stating she was really Rosemary. The story goes on about the horrible treatment the children there are treated and Sage trying to find a way to get them to believe she really isn’t Rosemary. Sage finds a friend in a janitor who helps her escape and calls the news to report on Willowbrook but little did she know that Eddy wasn’t who she thought he was. I had so much emotion reading the book feeling sad and mad at how they were treating Sage. I enjoyed the book even though saying enjoyed doesn’t seem right with the subject background of Willowbook.

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