"Becoming Darlene:" Book Talk with Local Author Ed Orzechowski

Born in a Massachusetts mill town in 1956, Darlene Rameau is number eight of what would become 14 children. When she is three years old, a social worker reports that Darlene is segregated from the rest of the family in a filthy room, treated like an animal, and unable to walk. At age seven, Darlene is sent to Belchertown State School, a de-humanizing institution where she meets a sister she didn’t know she had. Darlene considers herself an “it,” unworthy of a name. Her dream is to raise a family of her own, but at 17 she is discharged into a world where she has no idea how to make that dream a reality.

Join Ed and Darlene for a discussion on this gripping book, his second on the Belchertown State School.

Ed Orzechowski is a writer whose features and columns have appeared in The Republican, The Daily Hampshire Gazette, Early American Life and other publications. A retired high school English teacher and radio newsperson, Ed lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.