Family Secrets: The Controversial and Shocking Story of the Dionne Quintuplets

Ashley Thomson is a full librarian at Laurentian University and co-editor or co-author of nine books, most recently Margaret Atwood: A Reference Guide, 1988-2005.

When the Dionne quintuplets were born in 1934 near Callendar, Ontario,
they were placed under the guardianship of the province, which built a
large compound outside their parents’ residence and allowed visitors
from around the world to watch them play. Between 1943 and 1954, they
lived with their parents, attending school on the family compound. In
1954, one of the quintuplets died during an epileptic seizure; another
suffered a fatal stroke in 1970. Today, the surviving quintuplets live
quietly in Montreal, trying to make peace with their troubled past.

In this book, their bitterness is aimed not at the Ontario government,
which controlled their lives for nine years, but at their parents. Their
father is portrayed as a controlling sexual abuser, their mother as a
tyrannical, unloving critic. The extensive quoted conversations in the
book inevitably raise questions about the accuracy of some of the
material; that said, the overall impression is one of authenticity.