The Quintland Sisters: A Novel

Written 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.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Mar 5, 2019
• ISBN: 9780062897466

Shelley Wood

SHELLEY WOOD is a Canadian writer and journalist. Her breakout debut novel, The Quintland Sisters, sold approximately 50,000 copies in North America and debuted as a #1 bestseller on the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail fiction lists, holding the top spot for five weeks, then ending the year as #7 on the list of the top 10 bestselling books of 2019. Shelley Wood lives in British Columbia.

Reviews for The Quintland Sisters

[Ruth Edmond Sapata · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I would hav loved to finish this book but the narrator is too annoying. She always sounds breathless and worried. It’s stressful to listen too. I’ve listened to other books narrated by her and it’s all the same. Boo!

[oldandnewbooksmell · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In her historical fiction debut, Shelley Wood writes about Emma Trimpany, a seventeen-year-old living in Callander, Ontario, Canada, who wishes to be an artist. Her parents want more for her and arrange to have her help the local midwife. On the first time assisting, Emma helps at the birth of Canada's first Quintuplets. The Dionne sisters: Yvonne, Annette, Cecile, Marie, and Emilie. They weren't expected to live through the first night - but they did. Emma falls in love with the girls and signs up to be a part of their round the clock care. This decision changes her life forever.

The novel is told through journal entries done by Emma, newspaper articles about the Quintuplets, and letters that are two and from Emma from a few characters. I liked this writing mostly because I liked Emma's voice. She has this persona about her where she's invisible to a lot of people and therefore, she tends to watch rather than engage and she has a lot to say about it. As much as I loved reading about the babies, I wanted Emma to spread her wings and succeed just as much.

The Epilogue left a few answers but it led me to do some research of my own and I don't ever mind doing that.

Otherwise, I enjoyed being a part of the small bubble that was Quintland for the time Emma was there. The novel was a bit heartbreaking with shocking and unforgettable details that have stayed with me.

[librarycin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

3.75 starsThe Dionne quintuplets were born in a small town in Northern Ontario in 1934. It was amazing that they all lived. However, not long after they were born, they were taken from the parents to live across the street in a building built to keep them safe and healthy. 17-year old Emma was there when they were born to help the midwife. She becomes a nurse and is one of a revolving door of nurses and teachers (in addition to Dr. Dafoe and others) to help take care of the girls. They’ve immediately become sensations, being so rare. People come from all over to see the girls in their purpose-built play room, so the girls are visible to outsiders, but the visitors aren’t visible to the girls. The story is told in diary form from Emma’s point of view up until the girls are 5-years old. It is interspersed with real newspaper articles. It’s a sad story, as the parents rarely had access to see their daughters. Since this is fiction, I don’t really know what the parents were like, but I waffled between feeling bad for them and really not liking them, as they were very strict and the father seemed more interested in the money and control of the girls’ lives. I did appreciate the historical note. Emma was, as I’d suspected, not a real person. I was surprised at the end, but she did put a bit into the historical note that might help explain. I definitely want to find and read some nonfiction on the Dionne quintuplets.

[ldvoorberg · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It should be called The Quintland Nurse because it is all about Emma, not the sisters, really.

[linda.marsheells · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

3.5 stars A few weeks ago I reviewed a non-fiction book about the 'quints' that I really enjoyed. THIS one, I figured, would gave an alternate view due to the creative freedom of it being fiction. I was right. Written through the eyes of a 17 year old midwife in training, present from the quints birth to their age of 5. Insightful in her descriptions of each character involved in the raising of the girls...I feel like Woods skimmed the surface to get the book done. The ending was abrupt and dissatisfying...

[siri51 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Totally engrossing story of the Canadian quintuplets narrated by a fictitious nurse.

[khiemstra631 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Dionne sisters were way before my time, but I remember a childhood friend whose mother had a collection of Dionne-related materials because they were born the same year as her. Since I had always wanted to know more, this book captured my interest when I saw the title. The book gives a good overview of the events surrounding the girls birth and the controversies that developed over the years concerning their upbringing. Overall, it made for a very sad story of lives ruined when outsiders stepped in to remedy what they saw as problems. And, undoubtedly, major problems did exist in their natal home that would also have caused serious problems for them. It was a no-win situation made even sadder by the early demise of one of the sisters. It was a good, but rather depressing read. Recommended for anyone with an interest in the topic.

[wagner5sarah35 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Years ago, I remember first encountering the Dionne quintuplets through a TV miniseries and I can still recall the sad impression the story made upon me. This novel, told from the perspective of one of the nurses who cared for the sisters, manages to tell the sad story in which almost no one emerges as a good person - with the possible exception of the quintuplets. Overall, I liked this novel, although I can't truly say I enjoyed it, since this story always leaves me with a moral queasiness.

[andrea58_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Received this book from LTER. I knew very little about the Dionne quints so I found the book to be very enlightening. Truly a sad story from the 30’s and hard to believe it could happen. The parts of the book I liked best were those focusing on the girls and what their lives were like. I would have liked to know more about the parents. The book portrayed them both entirely negative with no redeeming features. And I realize it was a novel, but I would have liked less emphasis on Emma. And the last section of the book felt rushed and ended abruptly.

[lynnb_64 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

At the beginning of the book, I found myself quite engaged in the story of the main protagonist, Emma. She is a 17-year-old girl who has been "voluntold" by her mother to assist the local midwife Emma's first experience is the birth of the Dionne quintuplets. She remains with the family for nearly five years, caring for the girls. The story is told through Emma's journals and her correspondence with people she's met through her work. As the story progressed, I became less comfortable with the way the father of the quintuplets, Oliva Dionne, was portrayed. I searched on google and found no evidence to support his portrayal as a predator of women. And I also noted that two of the Dionne quintuplets are still alive, which made this book all the more troubling. Not enough time has passed, I believe, to take so much liberty with this story.Yes, I finished it -- I'm a bit compulsive that way -- but kind of wish I hadn't a the scene on the train just added to my dismay at the liberties taken with a character that living people still know and care about.

[whitreidtan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When I was little, I met a lifelong friend. My mom drove the two of us back and forth to Safety Town every day the summer before kindergarten. Her mom didn't drive us because she had infant triplets at home, two identical girls and a boy. The triplets' birth had caused rather a lot of excitement and it reached the point that they had to unlist their phone number so perfect strangers wouldn't call and wake the babies during their nap. I also remember that when the triplets were old enough, they would scoot their cribs across the nursery floor and climb in together, thus foiling the idea of having them sleep separately. Obviously, given the fact that I was only five and I still remember this, it was quite memorable. I can't even begin to imagine the circus that ensued when the Dionne quintuplets were born decades before the triplets I knew. But I don't have to envision it because Shelley Wood has done the research and fictionalized this miraculous and disturbing story in her new novel, The Quintland Sisters.Emma Trimpany, a bilingual seventeen year old girl with a port wine stain on half of her face, is volunteered by her mother to attend to a birth with the local midwife with the hope of finding Emma a profession. It is 1934 and much of the world is in the grip of the Great Depression so Emma's parents want her to have a secure future, even if she isn't at all certain she wants to be a midwife. The birth she is called out to attend will change the trajectory of her entire life though. It's the unexpected birth of the five, tiny, and identical Dionne quints. The Dionnes, he a poor farmer and she a housewife, were already parents to five other children when the severely premature babies arrived. Keeping the five babies alive is touch and go for quite some time but their remarkable birth immediately captures the imagination of Canada, the US, and the world.Told through Emma's journal entries, letters to her from those she meets in the course of her years as nurse to the Dionne girls, and newspaper articles celebrating the special little girls, the story, based on the real life Dionne quintuplets, is an infuriating and amazing one of celebrity, greed, exploitation, the bounds of medical ethics, and government overstep. The daily life of the infants, then babies, then toddlers and that of the fictional Emma are woven together easily. Emma remarks that her birthmark makes her invisible, which perfectly places her to see and hear things about the Dionne parents, Dr. Dafoe, the girls' doctor, and the staff at the government built Dafoe Hospital and Nursery that show the reader the tragedy of the strange upbringing of the quintuplets. Emma is quite young and impossibly naive when she witnesses the birth and begins to devote her life to the babies. She shows no concern that the Dionne parents are not allowed access to their own children except on the doctor's carefully charted schedule or that the children were quickly made wards of the Ontario government, seeing these outsiders as appropriate surrogate parents for the children, especially after witnessing the horrible behavior of Maman and Papa Dionne. As the quintuplets grow, Emma's duties change and circumstances force her to start to consider a life not lived in the service of her five precious girls.Although the book spends a fair bit of time with the quintuplets, it is really Emma's story that is being told, from her first naive reluctance to a doting maternal feeling, to full maturity and control over her own future. As the story and Emma's understanding evolve, it is clear that there is a very seedy underside to the quints' situation. The outside world is not permitted to see any of the stress and strife roiling; they only see the carefully orchestrated marketing that allows them to believe that the girls live an idyllic life in their nursery home. Just as Emma becomes more attuned to the undercurrents, she also comes to see that there are no good guys in the equation either. Exploiting the children for money, even if it is just to keep them financially secure for life (and it's not just that), is no less odious when it is the father, the doctor, or the government doing it. The readers' sympathies swing from character to character, although the girls remain pitiable throughout. The treatment of the girls, being displayed as curiosities to the eager public, and the medical regimentation and testing, although not terribly detailed, were completely repugnant and the reader swings from interest in the story to distaste and back again. Wood has clearly done a lot of research and tried to address the abhorrent bits of the story with delicacy, using Emma's journalistic sensibilities to draw off some of the horribleness. But she has not flinched from portraying the sadness and uncertainty in these little girls' lives, the good impulses and bad, problematic or well meaning, and the impossible position the girls' celebrity and the world's fascination and well wishes cause. Historical fiction fans will enjoy the story, even it is Emma's story first, throughout, and last, rather than Yvonne, Annette, Cecile, Marie, and Emilie's.

[iwriteinbooks · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Before I was asked to be on the tour for this book, I hadn't heard a thing about the Dionne Quintuplets, five girls born around the Great Depression, who became a social spectacle. While I was reading the story, I had the book with me one day at Dublin Donuts and the woman behind the register began to tell me all about a doll her mother had given her. Apparently, when the true story of the girls was all the rage, there were, in fact, dolls and other merchandise sold upon their arrival. It doesn't surprise me at all, given human nature to sensationalize every single thing.The novel itself, it's absolutely fascinating. The story begins centered around the girls' birth, told from the perspective of the young midwife tasked with their care. I won't spoil the ending, though it's in the history books if you feel so inclined to spoil it for yourself but let's just say it was not a pleasant one for a mom of little folks.Woods's writing is excellent, despite the story of heartache and I really appreciate her historical attention to detail. I can't believe I hadn't even heard of the story until picking up this book. As with most historical fiction, I know there are some liberties taken so do with that what you will.Overall, though, I thoroughly enjoyed the story and it might have sent me on a bit of a historical fiction kick for a good while.

[cherylk_44 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I had never heard of the Dionne Quintuplets until this book. I did some research and reading up on these famous sisters after reading this book. There was not a lot of details on the sisters and thus for what little details there were, I thought author, Shelley Wood did a good job with this book. It helped explain why there was not a lot of details spent on the sisters in this book. That was one factor that had left me craving more. I wanted to get to know more about each sister and their personalities. For this, I looked to Emma. She was the voice/narrator of this book. What a great narrator she was. She had a good voice and a nice wealth of knowledge about what it was like caring for the quintuplets. Ms. Wood really did transport me back in time. She is a good storyteller. This combined with Emma's voice, it was like I was Emma experiencing everything as she did. You have to make sure that The Quintland Sisters by Shelley Wood is on your reading list for 2019.

[bettytaylor56 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Somewhere in the back of our minds, we all probably remember hearing about the Dionne quintuplets – the first full set of quintuplets to survive past birth. But I doubt many know their names or anything at all about them. Did you even know that there are only two surviving Dionne quintuplets today?I had no idea that that quintuplets lived their first decade of life as “animals in a zoo”. They were confined within a “hospital” built across the road from the house they were born in and where the rest of their family lived. The story is told from the perspective of a young woman who was with them at the moment of their birth and continued to live with the girls for several years. Emma Trimpany, aged 17, was pushed into midwifery by her mother with the Dionnes being her first - and only - client. She was present for the harrowing birth of Yvonne, Annette, Cécile, Marie, and Émilie. The quintuplets were born to a French-Canadian couple who already had five children. Due to the uniqueness of the situation, the Canadian government made the babies wards of the British king. Hired to care for them were Dr. Dafoe, who delivered the babies and is credited for their survival, and a small staff of nurses which included Emma who kept a detailed journal on the girls. It is estimated that each day there were over 6000 visitors come to view the babies at “Quintland”, as the “hospital” came to be known. They were a commercial entity bringing in millions of dollars to the Canadian government and advertising companies. Much was made of the girls being identical, but what makes this book so interesting is the focus on the uniqueness of each girl. “One loves bumblebees and bath time; one loves thunderstorms but is scared of the dark; one for whom the only thing better than building sand castles is getting to knock them all down; one who loves to finger-paint and knows how to tie her shoes; one who hates beets but is not the least bit squeamish about blood.”I felt sickened to read of the battles regarding custody and the products the girls may have used, such as which company’s corn syrup they first used. But my heart was warmed by the efforts made by some of the nurses to protect the girls from their celebrity and the greedy power struggles that surrounded them. I enjoyed the scenes describing the children as typical little mischief makers and moments of tenderness.It is obvious that Wood did extensive research in preparation for writing her book. She includes several archived newspaper articles from the Toronto Star. She also weaves in a couple of love stories. The writing was superb and I loved the book until the train scene toward the end. What??!! Was VERY disappointed.

[pinklady60 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A fictionalized account of the first five years of the Dionne Quintuplets, born in Ontario, Canada in 1934, the world’s first identical quintuplets to survive birth. I was born in Canada when the quints were 9 years old, and I remember hearing about them as I grew up. I always thought it would be so much fun to be one of them. But reading this story made me realize some of the controversy and anguish in their lives. I enjoyed how the story was told through the eyes of young fictional Emma, a nurse’s assistant, and her journal and letters. The story flows perfectly until the last quarter, when all of a sudden an event takes place that has no relationship to anything else in the book. Not only is this whole event unnecessary to the story, but it doesn’t flow chronologically, which really makes no sense, in my opinion, and the story comes to an abrupt, unsatisfying ending.

[hammockqueen · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Quite good. Well written and interesting. I especially likes the question and answers in the back that brought us up to date on these babies. Shelley did excellent research and made a fine creative story.

[liz1564 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Dionne Quintuplets have always fascinated me. When I was a child I would stay at my aunt’s farm and play with five tiny dolls whose crib was a little apple crate. There was also a souvenir book.. Inside were black and white photos of five sweet little girls playing, eating, and sometimes mugging at the camera. My aunt and her family had visited Quintland and vividly remembered standing in line to view the quintuplets through the nursery windows.Quintland is a historical novel about the first five years in the lives of the quintuplets. The author explains that she could have written a nonfiction account but chose to write fiction because the story would reach more readers and she did not want the account of the quintuplets’ lives to fade into a distant memory. Because of her extensive research the novel rings true to the facts for 95% of the book.In the beginning of the story there are no villains, only people trying to save the lives of five tiny babies born prematurely to a poor family living in rural Ontario in 1934. The narrator is 17 year old Emma Trimpany a trainee midwife who is awakened in the middle of the night to go to the Dionne farm where Mmn Dionne is having a difficult labor. Emma watches in awe and disbelief during the births. The babies, so small their feet are the size of raisons, are placed in an apple crate which is in front of the stove to keep them warm. Dr. Defoe and M. Dionne arrive in the middle of the deliveries. Mr. Dionne’s first concern is the wellbeing of his wife, who at 25, is the mother of five small children. The doctor does not expect the newborns to last the night, but with the two midwives, does his best to keep the babies breathing.When the story breaks in the newspaper, help starts to pour in. A kerosene incubator arrives since the farmhouse has no electricity. Breast milk is donated; diapers and baby clothes too big to be immediately used are delivered. Nurses are on 24 hour duty. It takes only a few days for everyone to realize the immensity of the event and the possible financial repercussions. If only the babies survive.All this is noted and recorded by the young midwife trainee Emma in her journals and her sketchpads. She moves with the babies to a special hospital where eventually they will be displayed to the public behind two-way windows. She sees, but sometimes because of her youth, cannot understand the power play between the Dionne’s and Dr Defoe who has the authority to limit family visits. She loves the babies and hates the fact that they are treated like interesting lab specimens by the doctors and psychiatrists who periodically put them through physical and mental tests. She is puzzled by the constant turnover of staff. As the girls develop individual personalities, she is the only person who never mixes up the identical quints. The quints’ story, through her eyes, is fascinating and tragic.Then for some reason the author goes off the rails in the last 30 pages of the book. In a sensational and gothic incident which has nothing to do with the previous 390 pages, she ends the novel. It is disconcerting and disappointing. The novel is still a four-star read but it could have been five stars with a more satisfying conclusion.

[mzonderm · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The first 80% of this book is really quite good. It details the better part of the first five years of the real-life Dionne Quintuplets, through the eyes of their fictional nurse, Emma Trimpany. Emma is 17 in 1934 when she assists the midwife at the quints' birth, and has led a fairly sheltered life until then. As the Depression deepens and the situation is Germany gets worse and worse, Emma's focus remains resolutely on her charges, staying with them even as many other caretakers come and go. Even naive Emma is shaken by the conflicts between the quints' medical caretakers and their parents, and she can't entirely ignore hints that some people who claim to care for the quints are really there to exploit them, a list that starts with their parents and primary doctor and goes all the way up to the Canadian government. Told through Emma's journals, and letters she receives, as well as newspaper articles that, we are told in the author's interview, are almost entirely unedited contemporaneous sources (and Wood carefully delineates where any edits have occurred), we get a good feel for the situation.Throughout the book we read letters sent to Emma from her would-be beau, Lewis, and at the end of the book, Wood makes the unfortunate decision to give us all of Emma's letters in return, as a way of answering a lot of the questions that have come up in the narrative. It amounts to an info-dump, at the end of a well-told story. I think Emma's letters were supposed to be the "big reveal," answering some questions about what was really going on, but I wish Wood had told her story more organically, giving us Emma's and Lewis's letters together and letting the tale unfold as it happened. The ending is satisfying, in its way, but seems very ragged compared to the rest of the book.

[janarose1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

When Emma Trimpany assists the local midwife, she is astonished when five baby girls are born. During the babies first days of life, Emma and a nurse keeps watch over them. Immediately, the world takes notice of the quintuplets, and the doctors and parents fight over their care and publicity. Eventually, the quints are moved across the street to a newly built nursery, where their every move is watched by their adoring public. Emma continues to help with their care, and eventually obtains a nursing certificate. This was a well written, and engaging story. I found the book hard to put down. The combination of journal entries, newspaper articles, and letters really worked to tie the story together and create progression. I do wish that the book contained some photos of the babies, or some of the advertisements based on the babies. Overall, highly recommended.

[lewislibrary · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have to go ahead and admit that I had never heard of the Dionne quintuplets before, so this story was entirely new to me. That being said, I found it a mix of fascinating & disturbing the way those poor girls were all but worshiped but some and used for financial gain by others. I felt the book started off very slow and I was tempted to give up at first, but I kept reading and it became more interesting the further into the story it got. My only complaint was that it stopped being about the Dionne quintuplets there towards the end and focused almost solely on the caregiver who was telling the story.

[busyreadin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a really interesting read. I have heard of the Dionne quintuplets, but wasn’t aware of the depth of the government and the public’s obsession.I found Emma to be a likeable character who seemed to be the only one who had only no motive beyond the care of the girls. I can’t imagine raising children in what really amounted to a zoo/circus atmosphere. I’m curious to read more factual information about the Quintland Sisters. Thanks to LibraryThing for the advanced reader copy.

[micheller7_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Quintland Sisters by Shelley Wood is an historical novel about the Dionne Quintuplets. With careful research about the quints, and their life and times, Wood creates an entirely fictional character, that of caretaker-nurse Emma Trimpany. Emma is just 17 years old when she is there for the birth and continues to care for them until they are about five years old. Emma is very shy and withdrawn, probably due to a disfiguring, red birthmark covering most of one side of her face. She describes herself at one point: "Me, I'm still a note in the margins of someone else's story." She is a talented artist, and sketches and paints the quints and ultimately gets paid for this work apart from her care-taking work. From day one, Emma decides to keep a journal about life with the quints and the novel is a series of dated entries. Interspersed are actual news stories and other documents about the quints, plus fictional letters that Emma receives and writes. There is quite a cast of real and fictional characters. Sometimes it is hard to discern which are which, but they include the quints parents, from who the quints are removed (and put under the care of the Canadian government), the doctor who delivered them and continues to care for them in a special "hospital" built for them, a succession of nurses and teachers, the photographer that takes daily pictures, and Emma's love interest, who is perhaps more shy than she is. Set in the depression, with the looming World War II and Hitler's rise to power, it is notable that one of the characters state: "They're in a bubble. We're all in this bubble, aren't we? It's as if the rest of the world doesn't exist." The novel describes in great detail how thousands of daily visitors came to see the quints, the endorsement deals and contracts, the legal goings on about the quints custody and guardianship and the money that is made and who gets it.I enjoyed reading this book, although it is perhaps a bit too long. I learned a lot about an historical event, the memory of which has faded over the years. In fact, I did not realized that two of the Quints are still alive. What bothered me most is that after all the detail, the book comes to an abrupt, sudden and unsatisfying ending. The ending is about Emma's story, not the Quints, so of course the author had complete freedom in developing the conclusion. I for one was unhappy about the resolution of Emma's story.

[susan.h.schofield · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

3.5 stars. This was a very interesting story of the Dionne Quintuplets told from the perspective of a fictional nurse, Emma, who cared for them the first 4 years of their lives. I knew of the Dionne quintuplets but did not know the extent to which they were famous and how they were exploited by everyone. It was well written and researched. However, I really did not like the ending. It was disturbing and very abrupt. I would rather have seen a more realistic and informative ending about Emma's life. I received an ARC of this book from LibraryThing.