Mayo native's book gives voice to women in mother and baby institution

A MAYO native has written a book based on the experiences of three women who spent time in a notorious Irish mother and baby institution.

BBC journalist Deirdre Finnerty, who hails from Ballinrobe, takes us inside the walls of Bessborough House and gives voice to the women and girls sent there to have their babies to finally tell their stories.

Written during lockdown, Deirdre's non-fiction book, published by Hachette Ireland, hit the paperback bestseller's list in its first week of publication.

Bessborough: Three Women. Three Decades. Three Stories of Courage is an astonishing and moving account of the untold stories of Irish women and their decades-long search for justice.

For over 70 years, Bessborough House, a grand country mansion on the outskirts of Cork city, operated as one of Ireland's biggest mother and baby institutions. Women and girls who walked up its stone steps were warned never to reveal their true identities and gave birth to babies they would not be allowed to keep.

In Bessborough: Three Women. Three Decades. Three Stories of Courage, a trio of remarkable women confined there in the 1960s, '70s and '80s, tell their truths. Their vivid accounts take us right inside the walls of the secretive institution and give us a deep insight into how their experiences impacted their lives afterwards.

The result is a stark portrait of a system that split families apart - and a moving account of love, loss and reconnection.

Deirdre Finnerty is an award-winning journalist for the BBC, specialising in international news. She started her career in the BBC World Service, and has worked in the BBC's Brussels, Washington and Westminster bureaux.

Bessborough: Three Women. Three Decades. Three Stories of Courage is her first book and the project won the Society of Authors Antonia Fraser Award in 2020.

Deirdre lives and works in London.