In 'The Foundling,' novelist Ann Leary explores a time when women had the legal status of children

Editor's note: This segment was rebroadcasted on Aug. 9, 2023. Find that audio here.

Here & Now's Robin Young speaks with Ann Leary, whose new book, "The Foundling," centers around a young woman who gets a job at an institution where women considered morally or mentally defective were sent so they would not reproduce.

Leary was inspired to write the book when researching her grandmother who worked at a real-life institution for the "feeble-minded."

By Ann Leary

Excerpted from "The Foundling: A Novel." Copyright © 2022 by Ann Leary. Used with permission of the publisher, Scribner/Marysue Rucci Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.