Girl in the Tunnel: My Story of Love and Loss as a Survivor of the Magdalene Laundries

Reviews

George Larmour

As someone in my seventies and a father of daughters and young grandchildren, I found reading this story to be particularly harrowing. Reading Maureen’s story, I wondered how anyone, never mind a child, could endure such heartless treatment at the hands of abusive and uncaring adults. You deserve credit Maureen for not only surviving that miserable early childhood but for giving a voice in this book to the many silent voices of those Magdalene inmates. Surely there is a special corner in a place of damnation for those who took pleasure in cruelly inflicting those physical and emotional wounds on someone so young.

Having read about the harsh conditions Maureen suffered in those Magdalene Laundries I believe the stench and filth of the unhuman treatment she and so many others were subjected to in such places can never be washed away. And I had trouble understanding how such adults could be so cold and callous and who not only took pleasure in treating children with such brutality but considered it justified as part of their religious vocation. Considered her worthless and relished in the harsh brutal punishment they subjected her and others like her to on a daily basis.