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Girls and Their Monsters: The Genain Quadruplets and the Making of Madness in America Hardcover – June 13, 2023

by Audrey Clare Farley (Author)
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 176 ratings
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For readers of Hidden Valley Road and Patient H.M., an “intimate and compassionate portrait” (Grace M. Cho) of the Genain quadruplets, the harrowing violence they experienced, and its psychological and political consequences.​

In 1954, researchers at the newly formed National Institute of Mental Health set out to study the genetics of schizophrenia. When they got word that four 24-year-old identical quadruplets in Lansing, Michigan, had all been diagnosed with the mental illness, they could hardly believe their ears. Here was incontrovertible proof of hereditary transmission and, thus, a chance to bring international fame to their fledgling institution.
 
The case of the pseudonymous Genain quadruplets, they soon found, was hardly so straightforward. Contrary to fawning media portrayals of a picture-perfect Christian family, the sisters had endured the stuff of nightmares. Behind closed doors, their parents had taken shocking measures to preserve their innocence while sowing fears of sex and the outside world. In public, the quadruplets were treated as communal property, as townsfolk and members of the press had long ago projected their own paranoid fantasies about the rapidly diversifying American landscape onto the fair-skinned, ribbon-wearing quartet who danced and sang about Christopher Columbus. Even as the sisters’ erratic behaviors became impossible to ignore and the NIMH whisked the women off for study, their sterling image did not falter.

Girls and Their Monsters chronicles the extraordinary lives of the quadruplets and the lead psychologist who studied them, asking questions that speak directly to our times: How do delusions come to take root, both in individuals and in nations? Why does society profess to be “saving the children” when it readily exploits them? What are the authoritarian ends of innocence myths? And how do people, particularly those with serious mental illness, go on after enduring the unspeakable? Can the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood help the deeply wounded heal? 
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  1. Print length
    304 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Grand Central Publishing
  4. Publication date
    June 13, 2023
  5. Dimensions
    6.4 x 1.06 x 9.3 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1538724472
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1538724477
  8. See all details
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Girls and Their Monsters
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Farley’s book is truly a case of reality being stranger than fiction, a highly researched yet readable account of a shocking piece of U.S. history that doesn’t show up in textbooks.”―The Associated Press

"In constructing an intimate portrait of the decades-long relationship between the Morlok family and the federally funded scientists who studied them, Farley examines the way American institutions and culture crucially shaped the construction of madness at mid-century. . . Girls and Their Monsters is a timely reminder of just how imperative this awakening is."―Los Angeles Review of Books

"The violence and dysfunction Farley describes is gothically sordid, painful to read about and entirely believable."―New York Times

“A powerful book that should provoke deeper reflection on how we come to grips with madness.”―Psychology Today

"[A] powerful but unsettling tale. . . Farley tightly interweaves the quadruplets’ lives with the story of America’s fraught relationship with mental illness. Haunting and impactful, this story does not leave the mind easily."―Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Farley recounts the sad story of the Genain quadruplets in a narrative that amply draws on published documents and new interviews to illuminate elusive truths within family chaos. . . As much a study of parenting as it is of what psychologists once thought of parents, Girls and Their Monsters follows Robert Kolker’s Hidden Valley Road (2020) as another unsettling, behind-closed-doors look at families and mental illness."―Booklist

“Farley’s narrative is based in deep research and makes for her nuanced analysis of the country’s shifting attitudes toward childhood and mental health. Readers will be riveted.”―Publishers Weekly

“In Girls and Their Monsters, Audrey Clare Farley embraces the complexity of mental health and human relationships. In her hands, the story of the Genain quadruplets is at once disturbing and heartening. It’s a tale of despair and resilience, about the ways we hurt each other and lift each other up.”―Josh Levin, award-winning author of The Queen

"Girls and Their Monsters is both an intimate and compassionate portrait of girls growing up under the constant gaze of media, doctors and government agencies, and a well-researched analysis of a nation in the grip of social illness. Farley shows us the interplay between American eugenics, white supremacy, and the hidden and widespread abuse of children within their own homes and communities, and how these monstrosities created the conditions for a madness that was deemed a biological disease of the individual. This book is brilliant and riveting."―Grace M. Cho, author of National Book Award Finalist, Tastes Like War

PRAISE FOR THE UNFIT HEIRESS

"In Audrey Clare Farley's book, the fascinating and unsettling case—and the worldwide media sensation it caused—is carefully revisited to expose what it meant to be considered an unfit parent and how easily family can become foes."―Town and Country

“Expertly blending biography and history, and using the life of Ann Cooper Hewitt as a backdrop, Farley has created an absorbing biography effectively explaining how the legacy of eugenics still persists today. Hewitt’s story will engage anyone interested in women’s history.”―Library Journal

“The Unfit Heiress is a sensational story told with nuance and humanity with clear reverberations to the present. Historian Audrey Clare Farley's writing jumps off the page, as Ann Cooper Hewitt, once a one-dimensional tabloid fixation, is brought into full relief as a complicated victim of her time, standing in the crosshairs of the growing eugenics movement and the emergence of a "over-sexed" and "dangerous" New Woman. But most importantly, this book is a necessary call to remember the high stakes and terrible history of the longstanding fight for control over women's bodies.”―Susannah Cahalan, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Brain on Fire

About the Author

Audrey Clare Farley is the author of The Unfit Heiress, a page-turning drama about reproductive rights and eugenics framed by the story of Ann Cooper Hewitt, as well as a writer, book reviewer, and historian of twentieth-century American literature and culture. Having earned a PhD in English from University of Maryland, College Park in 2017, she occasionally lectures in history and literature at local universities. Her essay on Cooper Hewitt, published in July 2019 in Narratively, was the publication's second most-read story of the year. Her writing on the eugenics movement and other topics has appeared in The Atlantic, The Washington Post, The New Republic, Public Books, Lady Science, Longreads, and Marginalia Review of Books, where she is a contributing editor. She lives in Hanover, Pennsylvania.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Grand Central Publishing (June 13, 2023)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1538724472
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1538724477
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.15 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.4 x 1.06 x 9.3 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 176 ratings

About the author

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Audrey Clare Farley

Audrey Clare Farley

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Audrey Clare Farley is a scholar of twentieth-century American culture with special interests in science and religion. She earned a PhD in English literature at University of Maryland, College Park, and now teaches history and creative writing. Her essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and many other outlets. She lives in Hanover, Pennsylvania.

Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
176 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Patrick D Hahn
5.0 out of 5 stars The most famous case history in psychiatric genetics
Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2023
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The Morlok sisters – four identical quadruplets all of whom were diagnosed with schizophrenia in their early twenties – are the most famous case history in all of psychiatric genetics, although in fact the case proved nothing about the supposed hereditary nature of “schizophrenia” (itself a diagnostic concept of dubious validity). But it did reveal volumes about its chroniclers.

Author Audrey Clare Farley has reconstructed this story in unprecedented and painstaking detail, supplementing published sources with letter, diaries, and interviews with the surviving principal actors and their descendants. This is a story of the staggering hubris of a medical establishment blind to the evidence that was literally right before their eyes, of abuse and dysfunction that reverberated for generations – but also a story of surprising resiliency and hope that continues to bloom in the face of adversity. A valuable addition to the literature of psychiatric genetics and of the critical psychiatry movement in general.
23 people found this helpful
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She Treads Softly
4.0 out of 5 stars highly recommended account of the Morlok quadruplets
Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2023
Girls and Their Monsters: The Genain Quadruplets and the Making of Madness in America by Audrey Clare Farley is a highly recommended account of the Morlok quadruplets.

The four girls were born in 1930 in Lansing, Michigan to parents Carl and Sadie Morlok. The girls, Edna, Helen, Sarah and Wilma, were portrayed as part of a perfect family and even performed dancing and singing on stage for awhile. Behind closed doors, however, the girls were subjected to a turbulent home life and frequently cruel treatment from abusive and controlling parents. Their public image remained untarnished as the family made sure it was always portrayed as spotless.

By 1954 all four women, now 24, were diagnosed with schizophrenia. Researchers at the newly formed National Institute of Mental Health wanted to study the genetics of the mental illness and once they learned about the Morlok quadruplets they immediately included them as part of their research. They were given the "Genain" surname pseudonym during research projects to protect their identities. Their research was not quite as straightforward as they hoped because it became clear that both genetic and environmental factors played a role in the mental health of the Morloks.

Farley expands the account by including mid-century cultural factors, the background and practices of the psychologists involved, the exploitation of children, and other historical factors of the times. The story of the Morloks is compelling and horrifying. The background and extraneous historical and cultural information is not as interesting and not all of it was applicable to their story. There were several passages late in the account that had no association with the Morloks or their experiences and were more opinions on current cultural topics. Some of the things Farley attempted to associate with the Morloks did not apply to their situation.

The historical account involving the Morloks and mid-century psychology is interesting, horrifying, and powerful. This is what makes Girls and Their Monsters worth reading and what calls forth the comparison to Hidden Valley Road. There is some extraneous information and opinions which occur late in the narrative which should have been edited out.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Grand Central Publishing via NetGalley.
20 people found this helpful
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A. Mcgrail
3.0 out of 5 stars Overly broad and unintentionally objectifying
Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2023
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The author sourced wide ranging research for this book but seemed to lack a basic understanding of the nature of schizophrenia itself. She frequently referred to Quadruplets in objectify terms like “a schizophrenic” and seemed to limit them to the experience of their symptoms rather than focusing on their humanity. Additionally the experiences of the Quadruplets were used to make a point about a history of racial bias and discrimination in the field of psychiatry, creating an unintentional parallel to the disempowerment and exploitation each woman experienced in her life. The author seemed to be hyper-critical of each development in the treatment and understanding of mental health diagnoses without offering any comment on the benefits to actual people living with the symptoms, for example first-wave antipsychotic medications had severe side effects but some may have preferred the oral medication to more severe treatments like insulin comas or ECT. Because the book is so broad is it really neither about the Quadruplets or about the “nature vs nurture” debate. The author has a difficult time wrapping up the book in a concise and logical manner.
11 people found this helpful
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BB
5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely Book
Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2023
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This book, at its core, is about mental illness and its possible causes. It is centered on a group of quadruplets. It goes over their lives and all four being diagnosed with schizophrenia. The author is very kind in his handling of the quads and their lives. It also reveals the shameful history of mental illness in America.
2 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars interesting and difficult story
Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2023
This was an interesting and difficult story of the Morlok quadruplets, four girls born in the 30s who developed schizophrenia as young adults, the NIMH research done on them under the moniker the "Genain quadruplets', and the ways that both those things intersect with the societal views on mental health throughout their lives.

Their lives were full of trauma, that the NIMH research largely disregarded in their pursuit to answer the nature vs. nurture debate when it came to schizophrenia. It's a sad story, but I think it's important to hear the full story of their lives.
8 people found this helpful
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David
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, Horrific!
Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2023
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This book is both fascinating and horrific. I appreciate the contextualization the author gave, since it took place in a different time and culture. The question of nature vs. nurture is well explored. The story form flows and progresses well. The exploration of background seems very thorough and realistic. I’m grateful for the immense work it took to put together this project! Well done!
9 people found this helpful
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