Why read Missing Persons?

Book cover of Missing Persons

Book description

Blending memoir with social history, Clair Wills movingly explores the holes in the fabric of modern Ireland, and in her own family story.

“Clair Wills shines a brilliant, unsparing light into the dark recesses of her family’s history―and the history of Ireland. Missing Persons is a stunningly eloquent exploration of…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Missing Persons as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Sydney Calkin

Author

In my academic work, I've read a lot about modern Ireland, especially its treatment of young women who were sent to state institutions like the Magdalene Laundries. Clair Wills incredible book is the best thing I've ever read on the subject, and manages to make sense of a nearly impossible question: how did ordinary people in Ireland cope with - and participate in - these cruel institutions that effectively incarcerated young women and their babies? Wills answers this question through a historian's research tools and a memoirist's reflections on her own life and family. I read it twice, nearly back…

From Sydney's 3 favorite reads in 2024.