A Haunting Image

Do you know one way they got rid of unwanted babies in times past? Churches and hospitals had “foundling wheels” set up on their outside walls. A mother could lay her child in a small crib, then turn the foundling wheel to place the child safely inside the building.

Begun in medieval times, this practice continued for hundreds of years, in countries such as England, France, Germany and Brazil. When I learned of this image, it haunted me: a mother in a shawl, to hide her face, sneaking up to a foundling wheel in the dead of night, gently placing her baby in a crib on the wheel, then rotating the wheel until the child disappeared from sight.

I wanted to use this image to introduce Louise, my main character in A FALSE DAWN. It made sense because I was certain that a lot more girls than boys were abandoned this way. Ultimately, I decided against it. Instead, I made Louise the daughter of a rich and prominent man; this way, she would have farther to fall. She could start my story with everything and, by the middle of the novel, find herself with nothing. Nothing, that is, but her own character and resourcefulness.

But what an image. Abandoned babies in tiny cribs set in a revolving wheel. The image stays with me. Does it stay with you?