{"product_id":"9781039007147","title":"Invisible Prisons","description":"\u003cb\u003eWINNER OF THE 2024 BMO WINTERSET AWARD • WINNER OF THE 2025 NEWFOUNDLAND \u0026amp; LABRADOR NON-FICTION BOOK AWARD •  FINALIST FOR THE 2024 HILARY WESTON WRITERS’ TRUST PRIZE FOR NONFICTION • \u003ci\u003eThe Globe and Mail\u003c\/i\u003e’s Best Books of 2024 • \u003ci\u003eCBC Books\u003c\/i\u003e’ Best Canadian Nonfiction of 2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRiveting nonfiction from multi-award-winning author Lisa Moore, based on the shocking true story of a teenaged boy who endured abuse and solitary confinement at a reform school in Newfoundland, but survived through grit and redemptive love.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eInvisible Prisons\u003c\/i\u003e is an extraordinary, empathetic collaboration between the magnificent writer Lisa Moore, best-known for her award-winning fiction, and a man named Jack Whalen, who as a child was held for four years at a reform school for boys in St John’s, where he suffered jaw-dropping abuses and deprivations. Despite the odds stacked against him, he found love on the other side, and managed to turn his life around as a husband and father. His daughter, Brittany, vowed at a young age to become a lawyer so that she could seek justice for him. Today, that is exactly what she is doing—and Jack's case is part of a lawsuit currently before the courts.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe story has parallels with \u003ci\u003eUnholy Orders\u003c\/i\u003e by Michael Harris about the Mount Cashel orphanage, and with the many horrific stories about residential schools—all of which expose a paternalistic state causing harm and a larger society looking away. Yet two powerful qualities set this story apart. As much as it is about an abusive system preying on children, it is also a tender tale of love between Jack and his wife Glennis, who saw the good man inside a damaged person and believed in him. And it is written in a novelistic way by the great Lisa Moore, who makes vividly real every moment and character in these pages.","brand":"Lisa Moore (CA)","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback Trade paperback (US)","offer_id":45890046394556,"sku":"9781039007147","price":24.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0694\/8559\/2764\/files\/BNCImageAPI_5f82aea6-955f-4aa2-8820-18480939efac.jpg?v=1770916283","url":"https:\/\/wordsquirrelbooks.com\/products\/9781039007147","provider":"Word Squirrel Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}