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FILM STILLS

Released: Spring 2026

About the Film

synoposis

Set in 1960s Dublin, The Whipping Club follows the travails of Marian McKeever, a feisty, young Catholic school teacher, and Ben Ellis, the Jewish journalist with whom she falls in love. Against all odds they plan to marry–until a stunned Marian discovers she’s pregnant. Confused, overwhelmed by the onslaught of objections to their marriage, and believing that she is protecting her future with Ben, Marian decides to hide her pregnancy from him and delivers the baby in secret. Assured that a better life with an American family awaits her infant Adrian, Marian relinquishes him to the nuns of Castleboro Mother Baby Home.

A decade later, Ben and Marian, now wed, raise their ten-year-old daughter, Johanna. Out of the past walks the nurse who delivered Adrian. She confesses to Marian that her young son has not been living in America, but is institutionalized in a notorious Catholic orphanage and there is little hope for his survival. Tormented by guilt that has plagued her throughout her marriage, Marian confronts the truth and reveals this long-buried secret to her family. Putting everything she holds dear at risk, she determines to bring her child home–and in so doing correct the wrongs of her past and challenge a society that chronically serves up children to a corrupt and abusive child care system. here

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Read the Book

Press Reviews

  • The Whipping Club takes us to mid-20th-century Ireland, where a good Catholic girl decides to give up her half-Jewish child for adoption. Secrecy, lifelong guilt, and remorse aren’t even half of what she and the child will suffer in Deborah Henry’s novel.

    —O, Oprah Magazine July Summer Reading Issue 2012

  • "Henry weaves multilayered themes of prejudice, corruption and redemption with an authentic voice and swift, seamless dialogue. Her prose is engaging, and light poetic touches add immediacy. Echoing the painful lessons of the Jewish Holocaust, Henry’s tale reveals what happens when good people remain silent. A powerful saga of love and survival.."

    —Kirkus, starred review

  • "The prose of The Whipping Club is gripping, and almost poetic in its emotional depth, while the research is concise and accurate, and the story haunting…The Whipping Club holds the promise of a long and meaningful career for Deborah Henry as a serious writer. Bravo!"

    —Seattle Post-Intelligencer

  • "Set in 1960’s Ireland, Henry’s riveting debut novel explores the far-reaching effects of a single decision.."

    —Publishers Weekly