One dedicated woman…giving voice to the suffering of many
Born to an unavailable mother and an abusive father, Dorothea Dix longs simply to protect and care for her younger brothers, Charles and Joseph. But at just fourteen, she is separated from them and sent to live with relatives to be raised properly. Lonely and uncertain, Dorothea discovers that she does not possess the ability to accept the social expectations imposed on her gender and she desires to accomplish something more than finding a suitable mate.
Yearning to fulfill her God-given purpose, Dorothea finds she has a gift for teaching and writing. Her pupils become a kind of family, hearts to nurture, but long bouts of illness end her teaching and Dorothea is adrift again. It’s an unexpected visit to a prison housing the mentally ill that ignites an unending fire in Dorothea’s heart—and sets her on a journey that will take her across the nation, into the halls of the Capitol, befriending presidents and lawmakers, always fighting to relieve the suffering of what Scripture deems, the least of these.
In bringing nineteenth-century, historical reformer Dorothea Dix to life, author Jane Kirkpatrick combines historical accuracy with the gripping narrative of a woman who recognized suffering when others turned away, and the call she heeded to change the world.
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Summary
Jane Kirkpatrick, typically an author of historical fiction, has written a fascinating biographical work about the life of Dorthea Dix, crusader for compassionate and
moral care for the insane and mentally imbalanced. Miss Dix was most likely led to pursue this path because of her memories of her own mother's mental instability which made childhood for her and her brothers difficult. Pressing on through difficult life circumstances, Dorthea Dix pursued teaching in her early adulthood, even though she had no formal training. She taught across a wide variety of economic classes from the privileged to the indigent. She even wrote several books on practical educational practices which provided her with royalties to help provide for her mother's care and support herself and her brothers. During a tour of a school, she happened onto a prison like building that together contained prisoners, the insane, mongoloids, and debtors. Appalled at the deplorable conditions she saw, Dorthea devoted the remainder of her life to advocating for these forgotten and oppressed people who were being treated as nonpersons. Is became her life passion: to relieve the suffering of others. Reading about people like her is inspirational. What am I doing with my life to make a difference?