Secrets of the Asylum by Julianne Mangin

Retired librarian Julianne Mangin was a reluctant genealogist -- at first. But after acquiring her ailing mother's genealogy files, something drew her into the family history. Maybe it was years of listening to her mother's cryptic stories of her childhood which featured a delicatessen, a state hospital, and a county home for neglected children. Eventually, she acquired her grandmother's patient record from Norwich State Hospital, and the secrets just spilled out. There were four other women in her mother's family who were patients at state hospitals. And a dark secret was at the heart of her mother's childhood -- one her mother may or may not have known. Using patient records, genealogical methods, and DNA testing, Mangin pieces together a family story that reads like a Dickens novel. Weaving in what she learned about intergenerational trauma and the consequences of family secrets, Mangin has created a testament to the power of family history to empower people and heal old wounds.