Published: Sunday, September 1, 2013 at 1:00 p.m. Last Modified: Friday, August 30, 2013 at 3:39 p.m. <\/p>\n
Diane Chamberlain is off to the Topsail area again, to work on her next novel. In the meantime, the Raleigh author's latest novel, \"Necessary Lies,\" is hitting stores. <\/p>\n
\"I knew I would explode if I didn't write this,\" Chamberlain said during a phone interview. \"This has just been living inside me.\" <\/p>\n
The novel, Chamberlain's first with St. Martin's, is a bit of a departure from her earlier books. It focuses on the history of North Carolina's eugenics program, the state's efforts from 1929 to 1975 to sterilize women labeled \"feeble-minded\" or \"mentally defective.\" <\/p>\n
The story is set in 1960, in fictional \"Grace County,\" in eastern North Carolina. <\/p>\n
\"It's really Johnston County,\" Chamberlain admitted. <\/p>\n
Her friend, the mystery writer and Johnston County native Margaret Maron (\"Bootlegger's Daughter\"), gave her a guided tour of the area, which was unfamiliar ground to Chamberlain, a New Jersey native. <\/p>\n
The focus of the story is 15-year-old Ivy Hart, who lives on a tenant farm. Her family has problems. Her parents are dead, and Ivy is left to care for an aging grandfather, a mentally ill older sister and a young nephew. In the meantime, she's coping with her own epilepsy. <\/p>\n
Jane Forrester, Grace County's newest social worker, takes on Ivy's case and becomes emotionally involved with her family. (Chamberlain herself worked for years as a medical social worker.) As she probes deeper, however, Forrester discovers some of the tenant farm's darker secrets and comes in conflict with her superiors. <\/p>\n
Chamberlain didn't approach any survivors of the eugenics program but she interviewed the researcher who reviewed the state Eugenics Board's files, and she read the redacted record online. <\/p>\n
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Bookmarks - Novelist explores eugenics program<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Published: Sunday, September 1, 2013 at 1:00 p.m. Continue reading