About the Book

Title: The Lost Girls of Willowbrook

Author: Ellen Marie Wiseman

Series: none

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 369

Edition Read: Paperback

Dates Read: March 22 – 25, 2025

Blurb: Fact, fiction, and urban legend blend in this haunting story about a young woman mistakenly imprisoned at Willowbrook State School, the real-life institution later shuttered for its horrendous abuses.

Sage Winters always knew her sister was a little different even though they were identical twins. They loved the same things and shared a deep understanding, but Rosemary—awake to every emotion, easily moved to joy or tears—seemed to need more protection from the world.

Six years after Rosemary’s death from pneumonia, Sage, now sixteen, still misses her deeply. Their mother perished in a car crash, and Sage’s stepfather, Alan, resents being burdened by a responsibility he never wanted. Yet despite living as near strangers in their Staten Island apartment, Sage is stunned to discover that Alan has kept a shocking secret: Rosemary didn’t die. She was committed to Willowbrook State School and has lingered there until just a few days ago, when she went missing.

Sage knows little about Willowbrook. It’s always been a place shrouded by rumor and mystery. A place local parents threaten to send misbehaving kids. With no idea what to expect, Sage secretly sets out for Willowbrook, determined to find Rosemary. What she learns, once she steps through its doors and is mistakenly believed to be her sister, will change her life in ways she never could imagined . . .

Review

This book was a horrifying roller coaster that I couldn’t put down. This was a book club pick (for a meeting that I once again could not attend) and I am so glad that they brought this one to my attention. I doubt I would have found it otherwise.

This book highlights how mental illness used to be dealt with back in the day (in this case, in the 70s). It was absolutely terrible. Places like Willowbrook (which was a real place) were nightmares for anyone who were sent there. It was a place to send people to forget about them, basically. Because of this, some of the inmates were experimented on, used to test medicines and vaccines.

In the book, we see all of this through the eyes of Sage, who ends up committed against her will because she is mistaken for her twin, who was there and who had run away. The deplorable conditions, the miserable treatment, all of it is dependent on the fact that nearly all the people there are unable to communicate or advocate for themselves, and don’t have people outside the institution willing or able to do it for them. The more Sage tries to explain the mix up and insist that she is not Rosemary, the more the doctors and orderlies don’t believe her. This story is full of tension and keeps you reading because you have to know if she gets out of there!

Not to mention that there is a serial killer on the loose.

The real Willowbrook was shut down in the mid 1980s after an expose was released by Geraldo Rivera – this is mentioned in the book, too, although in the fictional telling, Sage also works towards getting the place closed for good (promoting awareness, campaigns with government officials, etc.) We don’t get much of that in the story though, and if I had a complaint at all, it would be that the ending was very rushed. We spend a lot of time inside Willowbrook with Sage seeing the atrocities, but the part of her story as a grown woman doing everything in her power to protect people like her sister was summarized in only a few chapters. I would have liked to see more of the aftermath and more details of the closure.

Still, this book was gripping, heartbreaking and scary. I loved it.

GoodReads rating: 5 stars

Categories: Books I've Read

Tags: book reviews, books, ellen marie wiseman, the lost girls of willowbrook