Eleanor Hamilton is happily married and mother to a charming four-year-old girl, Mabel. Her husband, Edward, is a leading light in the burgeoning Eugenics movement, which is designing the very ideas that will soon be embraced by Hitler. But when their daughter develops debilitating epileptic seizures, their world fractures. Mabel's shameful illness must be hidden or Edward's life's work and the family's honor will be in jeopardy. When Eleanor discovers Edward has been keeping secrets, she calls into question everything she believed about genetic inferiority, and her previous unshakeable faith in her husband disintegrates. Alarmed, distressed, and no longer able to bear the family's burden, she takes matters into her own hands. Inspired by her personal experience, author Louise Fein illuminates moral and ethical issues of an era shaped by xenophobia, prejudice, fear, and well-intentioned yet flawed science. Vividly rendered, deeply affecting, and impeccably researched, The Hidden Child is a sweeping story and a richly drawn portrait of a family torn apart by shame, deceit, and dangerous ideals.