The Quand Sisters

A Novel

By: Shelley Wood

Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert

In Shelley Wood’s fiction debut, listeners are taken inside the devastating true story of the Dionne Quintuplets, told from the perspective of one young woman who meets them at the moment of their birth.

Reluctant midwife Emma Trimpany is just 17 when she assists at the harrowing birth of the Dionne quintuplets: five tiny miracles born to French farmers in hardscrabble Northern Ontario in 1934. Emma cares for them through their perilous first days and when the government decides to remove the babies from their francophone parents, making them wards of the British king, Emma signs on as their nurse.

Over 6,000 daily visitors come to ogle the identical “Quints” playing in their custom-built playground; at the height of the Great Depression, the tourism and advertising dollars pour in. While the rest of the world delights in their sameness, Emma sees each girl as unique: Yvonne, Annette, Cécile, Marie, and Émilie. With her quirky eye for detail, Emma records every strange twist of events in her private journals.

As the fight over custody and revenues turns increasingly explosive, Emma is torn between the fishbowl sanctuary of Quintland and the wider world, now teetering on the brink of war. Steeped in research, The Quintland Sisters is a novel of love, heartache, resilience, and enduring sisterhood—a fictional, coming-of-age story bound up in one of the strangest true tales of the past century.

Dragged

I usually like historical fiction but this one was hard to get through. It was the story, I wasn’t sure where it was going. The end of the story was the best part.

such a personal story shared with humor and tears

tender picture of an incredible piece of quite often misunderstood history. I felt like I was there actually part of the scene. highly recommended.

Fiction, did I really learn anything?

Basic information I suppose was true the shocking part and the sad part doesn't even come till the very last couple of minutes

Learned a lot about the quints I never knew

Very interesting book with lots of details not widely known. Well written and researched. Made me want to know more.

Historic and sad story

No happy endings for anyone involved with the famous Canadian quintuplets. Fictionalized true story is intriguing, but so sad in the end, as real life can be.