My Hands

The story of My Hands revolves around 17-year-old Louise, a profoundly deaf teenager who endures the horrors of an industrial school for young deaf women in 1950s Ireland. She communicates entirely through sign language, and whilst Louise is considered a lost cause by the nuns and priests, she is also a local celebrity: she is the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter. In Irish folklore, it is said that such a person can cure illnesses with the touch of her hand. Louise’s power first came to light when she inadvertently cured a nun who had suffered a stroke. People now come to Louise in droves, or she is brought to them. Although these healing sessions yield mixed results, the community’s religious beliefs only intensify.

Louise can cure everything from strokes to blindness and arthritis, but her friends in the institution are frustrated when she cannot cure their deafness. Legend states that a healer cannot take payment, and so the clergy of the school retain the donations. However, Louise has bargained for a different type of payment: access to her two-year-old son, who is not allowed to live with her at the home, and for whom she would give everything. The girl has no support for her son within or outside of the school, and both her family and the father are complicit with the clergy’s actions. Eventually, Louise’s suppressed indignation erupts, and she has a physical altercation with the nun whom she had previously healed. At the touch of Louise’s hand, the nun suffers another stroke and drops dead. Louise’s benevolent gift is immediately thrown into doubt, and both the nuns and the other deaf girls begin to suspect whether the girl also has the power to harm.