In the News
“The stories from St. Joseph’s were so appalling that it was difficult for authorities — and for Kenneally, at first — to believe them. Surely the 50-year-old memories were flawed? Surely the children had imagined these things? But over 10 years of reporting, Kenneally chips away at the secrets, finding documentation and corroboration. The reportage in this book is impeccable. She never says more than she can prove, but she also never says less. The stories were true.”
Star Tribune
“When I was a teenager in the early 2000s, my parents both died. Like many American children, I had been steeped in stories about orphans for years, but the books I had read and movies I had watched (Jane Eyre, Annie) failed to mirror my experience of parental loss. They also contributed to my mistaken understanding of orphanhood and the makeup of our child-welfare system—misconceptions that many Americans hold today.”
The Atlantic
“Journalist Christine Kenneally sparked worldwide headlines in 2018 when her BuzzFeed exposé about a history of abuse at Burlington’s now-closed St. Joseph’s Orphanage spurred local and state authorities to launch a review that confirmed misconduct, if not the story’s 75-year-old claims of murder… But Kenneally wasn’t ready to move on. After devoting six years to the BuzzFeed article, the writer has invested five more expanding it into a new book…”
VT Digger
“What makes Kenneally’s story especially sinister is the way in which she contemporizes it, drawing connections between the archaic atmosphere of catholic orphanages and the more modern institutions of foster care and CPS. Though these newer versions might lack the hyper-religious foundation that made St. Joseph’s into what it was, they still perpetuate the same practice of harming and silencing vulnerable minors.”
Law & Crime
“Starred Review: Journalist Kenneally (The Invisible History of the Human Race) paints a beyond disturbing picture of human cruelty in this shocking exposé of decades of abuse of children housed in orphanages across multiple countries in much of the 20th century… This harrowing true crime story is essential, if deeply difficult, reading.”
Publishers Weekly
“She was determined to find out what happened,” says Ben Adams, executive editor at Public Affairs, “and there was just more, and more, and more.” Kenneally’s two previous titles, The First Word and The Invisible History of the Human Race, respectively explored the origins of language and of identity; when Adams asked what united her three books, she explained that they were all answers to questions she was told not to ask. She asked anyway.”
Publishers Weekly
“While in Burlington recently, Christine Kenneally, author of the just released book “Ghosts of the Orphanage” and the 2018 Buzzfeed article on abuse at St. Joseph’s Orphanage, revealed that she had asked the local diocese why there was no list of credibly accused nuns. The diocese never responded.”
VT Digger, Reader Commentary
“Like nothing else that I have written before, Ghosts prompted me to revisit all the disparate genres and styles of writing that I have loved all my life. When I was reflecting on structure, or musing about character, or thinking about the million different ways that way one thing leads to another in a story, I reached for writers that I admired. Ghosts of the Orphanage is a nonfiction murder mystery, so I reread some of my favourite journalists. The story in Ghosts follows a huge historic arc, so I looked especially at the writers who weave close-up narratives into broader social change…”
Novel Suspects
“Kenneally portrays an “invisible archipelago” of institutions—most, but not all, run by the Catholic Church—that, while operating independently, shared so many horrifying traits that their violence can only be termed institutionalized. The result is a gripping chronicle of the ways in which those in power ignored, or even encouraged, the ill-treatment of children across borders, cultures, and decades.”
New Yorker Briefly Noted
“Ghosts of the Orphanage is Christine Kenneally’s harrowing exploration of institutional child abuse centred on a former Catholic orphanage… It is a measure of her nous as a journalist, as well as her patience and persistence, that she uncovered as much information and testimony as she has in what by all accounts is an extraordinarily difficult area to investigate.”
The Sydney Morning Herald
“…a superlative work of investigative journalism, [] an engrossing read… I carried this book everywhere until I finished it, and was annoyed when I had to put it down to start work in the morning. I can’t recommend it more highly.”
InDaily
“When these stories first came to light in the 1990s, notes the author, they were too often dismissed as fabrications, but now, says one reporter, “Finally in 2022…people are willing to hear these stories and believe them.” Kenneally makes a strong case for prosecuting still-living monsters and providing reparations for their still-living victims… A powerful work of sociological investigation and literary journalism.”
Kirkus
“Starred Review: The history of orphanages in the 19th and 20th centuries is secretive, dark, and vast. This thorough account focuses on St. Joseph’s in Vermont, but it also looks at orphanages around the world… Kenneally handles each person’s story with great care and ensures that this time, the people who were failed by the system are heard.”
Library Journal
“The stories here have exposed injustice, sparked investigations, prompted new legislation, and empowered and amplified the voices of victims and their families. They became the basis for documentaries, docuseries, and full-length books and won prestigious journalism awards.”
Buzzfeed News
“In fact, page 99 of Ghosts of the Orphanage aptly demonstrates one of the book’s most important themes–the enormous gap between the written record and life as it was really lived.”
Page 99
“Max Obuszewski writes in a recent letter to the editor, “Women should be ordained as priests” (April 11), that he is unaware of any scandals of U.S. nuns sexually abusing children. In 2018, BuzzFeed News’s Christine Kenneally did a deep probe into decades of physical and sexual abuse of orphans by the nuns of St. Joseph’s Orphanage of Burlington, Vermont.”
The Baltimore Sun, Reader Commentary
“UNCOVERING THE GRAVE SINS OF A CATHOLIC ORPHANAGE IN VERMONT: A journalist and survivors reckon with a brutal reality.”
Crime Reads Excerpt
TV & YouTube
GBH TV
Christine Kenneally joined Jared Bowen to discuss the stories she heard first-hand from survivors and their ongoing fight for justice.
Books & Books (YouTube)
A Virtual Evening with Christine Kenneally & James Carroll
The Lost Debate
Ravi interviews journalist and author Dr. Christine Kenneally. Her new book “Ghosts of the Orphanage: A Story of Mysterious Deaths, a Conspiracy of Silence, and a Search for Justice” tells survivors’ traumatic stories of abuse from inside a Catholic orphanage in Vermont.
Podcasts
Mamamia
Journalist Christine Kenneally, our guest today, extensively investigated the secret horrors hidden deep within Catholic orphanages, in the US and here in Australia, until as recently as the 60s and 70s.
History Nerds United
Author and journalist Christine Kenneally joins me to talk about her new book, Ghosts of the Orphanage. We talk about how writing is in her blood, the shocking criteria for ending up in an orphanage, and how to keep yourself sane when investigating the worst of humanity. She’s amazing. Come listen!