Single Mothers in Twentieth-century Ireland and Britain: Pregnancy, Migration and Institutionalization

Throughout the Twentieth Century many women in Ireland and Britain endured shame and institutionalisation for becoming pregnant outside of marriage. In this welcome study, Lorraine Grimes examines the journeys made by hundreds of pregnant Irish women to Britain as they fled to escape their local communities.

Their experiences in Britain, however, were not free of stigma and Grimes's book analyses the nuances of the institutional networks both in Britain and Ireland which these women utilised...