The Monthly, and other publications. Her book, The Invisible History of the Human Race: How DNA and History Shape Our Identities and Our Futures, was a New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2014, winner of the Bragg UNSW Prize for Science Writing, shortlisted for the 2015 Stella Prize and the 2015 Queensland Premier's Literary Awards, and appeared on many "best of" lists. Her first book, The First Word: The Search for the Origins of Language, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Before becoming a reporter, Kenneally received a Ph.D. in linguistics from Cambridge University and a B.A. (Hons) in English and Linguistics from Melbourne University. She was born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, and has lived in England, Iowa, and Brooklyn, New York. She was a senior contributor at BuzzFeed News for 4 years, working on an American orphanage story. Published in August 2018, the story was viewed more than six million times in six months. It won a Deadline Award and was a finalist for a National Magazine Award, a Michael Kelly Award and an Online Journalism Award. It was shortlisted for the Fetisov Prize. Her book, Ghosts of the Orphanage: A Story of Mysterious Deaths, a Conspiracy of Silence, and a Search for Justice, expands the story told in the article.
Kenneally applied the "Page 99 Test" to Ghosts of the Orphanage and reported the following:
Page 69:Visit Christine Kenneally's website.Chapter 6In fact, page 99 of Ghosts of the Orphanage aptly demonstrates one of the book's most important themes--the enormous gap between the written record and life as it was really lived. The page begins with a quote from a 1948 supervisor's report for the Sisters of Providence at St. Joseph's Orphanage in Burlington, Vermont. The supervisor reminds her sister nuns that dignity and christian values are paramount. It's characteristic of much of the Sisters' documentation, which is aspirational, positive, even noble. Page 99 then goes on to describe an episode in the life of the orphan Sally Dale, one of the book's real life protagonists. Sally had recently been returned to the orphanage from her stay with a family in the outside world. The orphanage nuns were clearly terrified that she would bring 'bad things back with her, which I believe meant they were afraid they wouldn't be able to control her as easily. The nuns were cruel and abusive, but indeed Sally had gained strength from being treated well in a family. Now when the nuns mistreat her, Sally refuses to cry. Provoked by this, the nuns escalate their terrible treatment. Sally still won't cry, and in doing so, she becomes stronger and stronger. Of course there are other themes and surprising counter examples to this theme in the book. One of the most striking elements in the documentation of the order is how often the nuns are enjoined to stay silent and never comment on or discuss what priests in the orphanage are up to. Over and over, the written record makes a virtue of what now looks a lot like explicit collusion.We must be aware my dear Sisters that education is by far the most excellent art of reaching the students. We must first show them dignity and Christian upbringing. It is the Holy Spirit that elevates these young people’s soul.It turned out that the nuns were right about Sally bringing back things from the outside world into the closed world of the orphanage. She has changed. They still beat her and lock her into frightening spaces, but after her time with the Pelkeys, Sally decides she isn’t going to scream any- more. She is going to stick up for other children, too, and when she is in trouble, she is not going to cry. Sometimes after she had been in the attic or the nuns beat her for doing something wrong, she makes a point of folding her arms and smiling at them once they are done.
—Reports of Provincial Superior of Official Visits to St. Joseph’s Orphanage, April 23, 1948
Her refusal to cry makes all the nuns angry, but Sister James Mary seems to take it the most personally. Sally no longer fits into the pad box, so Sister James Mary tells her to climb inside a big empty metal water tank in the attic. Sally was so stubborn, Sister James Mary said, she wouldn’t cry or do anything. This may be the most confusing part of life with the nuns. They want Sally to cry when they want her to cry. It shows they can make her do what they want. But if she cries when they don’t want her to cry, then they really give her something to cry about. When they do that, they won’t stop until Sally stops crying.
Sister James Mary makes Sally climb up a little ladder on the outside of the tank. Then she pulls the lid shut.
At first, alone in the dark, Sally screams to be let out. But the echoes in the tank make it sound like other people are in there with her. It just about scares her to death. So she makes herself very quiet instead.
Sally tries not to move and doesn’t push against the lid. It is hard to tell how much time has passed. It is so still and so black, she is pretty sure that two days have passed by the time Irene finds her.
The Page 99 Test: The First Word.
--Marshal Zeringue
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