Poor Farm

by Ronan O'Driscoll

Ronan O'Driscoll's novel follows two people on the autism spectrum--one the child of the narrator, and the other a boy confined to a Poor Farm in Nova Scotia in the 19th century. The tale explores the attitudes and assumptions that contorted and contort the way we deal with neurodivergent people, and take us into the Dickensian grimness of Victorian-era poor houses and official policies for "dealing with" the poor and the weak.

Genres: Historical Fiction

240 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 2021

About the author

Originally from the West of Ireland, Ronan O’Driscoll moved to Chicago as a teenager in the 1980s. He returned to Ireland to study at University College Dublin where he graduated with a Masters in English literature. Ronan has traveled a good deal: to Europe, America, Africa, Japan and Canada. His second book, Chief O'Neill, recounts the fascinating life story of Francis O'Neill (1848-1936)-- the Irish-American police chief who saved Irish music.

Ronan currently lives with his wife and family in Canada. His first novel, Poor Farm, describes the experience of an autistic boy on a 19th-century Nova Scotia poor farm. Both his works of historical fiction are carefully researched stories from the past, still relevant and compelling for today’s readers.

Reviews

[Janet Gillies · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read , informative historical facts entwined in a heartfelt story. A must read for anyone in Dartmouth and especially Cole Harbour. A reminder of our cruel actions in the past to the less fortunate and to what O ‘Driscoll describes as the harmlessly insane .

[Barbara Carter · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author writes he came up with the idea while walking through the Cole Harbour Heritage Trail with his autistic son, when they stumbled upon white wooden crosses of graves with no names.
The Poor farm was a place for the “harmlessly insane”. As the father of an autistic son, I can understand his interest in exploring the history of what life could have been like for his son in a 19th-century poor farm.
I know the struggles of having a child that does not fit the so-called “norms”. I’ve went through that journey and struggle with my dyslexia son.

The author further states: the key point of the book is highlighting the ignorance of the previous century to improve our own understanding.
Had I read that statement, I wouldn’t have taken this book home with me from the Dartmouth Book Exchange Group with the agreement to read and review it.
This is the first book I’ve read by the Nova Scotia publisher, Moose House publishing.

The book is a “nice” easy read. But it is not for me!
I lost a bit of sleep over whether to review it. Then I had to explore the reason I was hesitant to review it—I didn’t want to displease anyone. Which makes me think of a long-ago song: “A Garden Party” by Ricky Nelson- “you see, ya can’t please everyone, so ya got to please yourself.
Four years ago, I made a commitment to myself to review every book I read.
Why would I break that agreement now? Again, it would only be to please others, and not express my true feelings?

Last night I turned to the internet, searching on how to review a book you didn’t love. I came across a wonderful blog site by Ramona Mead — “While I Was Reading”. In one post she explained that our life experiences affect how we respond to everything we encounter. And this applies to books and movies.
There it is! It all comes down to personal taste. Not every person is going to love every book or movie! I cannot stand “feel good” Christmas movies.

This is not a poorly written book.
I love the first chapter! I wished for more of that present-day life with an autistic child.
But that wasn’t the author’s intention for this book. It was about going back in time to life in the poor farm.
So here’s why the book didn’t work for me:
I constantly felt the hand of the author throughout the story. I felt the deliberation of every twist and turn, that I was constantly being “educated”.
I never felt connected to the characters. The story didn’t pull me in. I didn’t feel connect to the characters. And I knew where the story was going and lost interest.
The characters lacked depth. they weren’t fleshed out enough for me.
Nothing came as a shock or a surprise. As a child I witnessed firsthand the suffering of many children and adults. Many who would have been in this poor farm. I have a high tolerance for reality, and it didn’t feel real enough for me.

As a reader, if you like “feel good” stories, or want more insight into life on a poor farm, then this book is for you. But, if you like “raw real” novels, this book isn’t for you.
One book in particular that I read this year jumps out at me as what I’m looking for in a novel. “Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club by Newfoundland author, Megan Gail Coles. In the opening of this book is a warning: contains scenes of sexual, physical and psychological violence.

Did I waste my time on this book?
No. I believe there is always something positive to be found in any experience. I gained a greater insight and understanding of my personal tastes in books, and why I like what I like.
So, I thank the author for that gift.
I also feel the power of this author’s writing might very well be in his personal story of life with his son. That is a book I’d be interested in!

I wish all the best to the author and hope my review in no way is too disappointing. But I feel my honesty is better than silence. There’s been too far too much silence in the past.
Another plus from this book… I found a great book blog to follow.

[Nicole Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

“How long will they leave you here this time? You screw your eyes tight, remembering that little cocoon on a bush in your family’s yard. What had it been before that? Mother showed you. The cocoon’s brown casing was horrible and alien, but the butterfly crawled out the bottom, wings shining like coloured glass. Was that why they trapped you in here? But every time you came out, you were always the same.”
This is my favourite passage from Poor Farm, giving a glimpse into the mind of Stewart and how he interprets the world from his unique perspective. This story appealed to my interest in Nova Scotian history, and I think even more-so, to how we support the differences of others and celebrate our strengths!
Sally and Stewart are the heroes of this story, overcoming their own obstacles and seeing each other as butterflies.

[Lyn Thomson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The brilliance of this book is in its sensitive depiction of autism, particularly in the second-person accounts leading the reader into the minds of two boys, one from today, one from the late eighteen-hundreds. The book opens and ends with today’s child, Daniel, framing the story with hope as we are reminded the autistic are now cherished and nurtured by their own families. The pages in between take us to the site of the Poor Farm in Cole Harbour, where children like Daniel were once incarcerated. The reader is drawn into the life of Stewart, “the quiet boy,” “that young ingrate,” who has a name only because of Sally, a sympathetic servant who takes a special interest in him. Sally and “the mute” make this story, and we learn she has come from Cape Breton where she was forced to leave her illegitimate baby, Stewart, some years earlier. We are given some history of the farm’s inception through a group of unlikeable characters--Overseers of the Poor, local landowners, council and committee members-- who wished to use it for their own gain rather than to help paupers and the ‘harmlessly insane.’ We learn the residents were not educated, not helped to return to society, were perhaps experimented upon, and were certainly threatened by ideas of eugenics.

I wished the book had been longer. I wanted to know Sally’s full story, more about her past and her future, more about the life of Stewart. I wanted to know additional stories of other inmates, more about the way they were used for work to support the farm. I wanted Emmett to be a more sympathetic character, perhaps the person he was at the end when he wondered why he hadn’t stayed to help Sally and Stewart. Completely engaged, I wanted more detail of how the story of the Poor Farm continued, how it ended in flames.

I have walked along the shore where the players in this book walked; I have taken the trail to the burial site where crude crosses suggest we don’t know who was buried there, or how many were buried there. I still want to know more, and I thank Rowan O’Driscoll for bringing this compassionate story to life.

[Adrianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read! Did not realize a farm like that existed in Cole Harbour.

[Aren Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was drawn in w/ the modern day hook & then reeled in even further w/ the backstory of the Cole Harbour Poor Farm itself. I was deeply invested in the character of Stewart & his story - couldn’t put it down. Read it in <36 hours & learned so much about the history of Poor Farms in Nova Scotia. If you’re a Nova Scotian fan of locally inspired HistFic, or if you’re curious about the operation and treatment of those houses at Poor Farms, I recommend this read.

[Jacquelyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent story set about 130 years ago in the community where I live. I learned things I didn't know about this area's past. Most importantly, it made me reflect on how society's most vulnerable people have been treated historically and how they continue to be treated today.

[Vilian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poor Farm by Ronan O'Driscoll is a powerful and thought provoking historical novel that shines a light on a difficult part of history while asking deeply human questions about how society treats people who are different or vulnerable.