Hey, it's NPR's Book at the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaung. The setting for today's book is this place called

the Nettleton State Village for feeble-minded women of childbearing age. It's an asylum to hold so-called

unfit women so they don't mingle with the rest of the population and procreate. To be clear,

the book is fiction, but is based on

a very real place, based on very real policies, and inspired by very real people. The book is

called The Foundling, and the author Anne Leary, her grandmother actually used to work at a place

like this. And in this interview with here and out's

Robin Young, she talked about the connection between eugenics and abortion and the long history

of control over women's bodies. In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily

life. Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors.

On our new show, Sources and Methods.

NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people,

helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.

Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.

Writer Anne Leary likes Nettie Topics.

Her 2013 book, The Goodhouse, centered on alcoholism.

She's open about her own.

Her 2013 New York Times Modern Love column is about the ups and downs of her long-time marriage

to that other Leary, actor Dennis Leary.

And now comes her new novel,

The Foundling, a great read, and also timely, as it's about who controls women's bodies,

a question once again in the headlines. The Foundling takes on the embrace in the early

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