The Boy from Baby House 10: From the Nightmare of a Russian Orphanage to a New Life in America

by Alan Philps, John Lahutsky

Overview

A boy named"Vanya" was born in Russia with cerebral palsy and is abandoned by his mother. A British couple discovered Vanya and vowed to save him. On the other side of the world, a woman in the US found herself longing to save a child when she heard about Vanya through her church. One little boy brought them all together. The Boy From Baby House 10 is the real-life story of John Lahutsky, an American high school student who lived the early years of his life in Russia labeled an "imbecile" by the authorities, confined to bleak baby houses, imprisoned in a psychiatric hospital and denied the love of a real family. Brought to the attention of the authorities by Alan and Sara Philps, Vanya was adopted by Paula Lahutsky who brought him to the US gave him a home and became the mother he dreamed of in his darkest hours. In The Boy From Baby House 10, Alan Philps helps John tell his story, the saga of a small boy with a big heart and an unquenchable will to survive.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312656485
Publisher:	St. Martin's Press
Publication date:	02/15/2011
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

ALAN PHILPS is an experienced foreign correspondent who has worked for Reuters and The Daily Telegraph, UK. He lives in London with his wife Sarah.
JOHN LAHUTSKY is an American high school honor roll student living in Bethlehem, PA with his mother. He is a member of The Boy Scouts of America and The Order of the Arrow."

Table of Contents

Preface xi

1 The Half-Open Door 1

2 A Voice in the Silence 17

3 Pineapples and Peacocks 38

4 Beyond the Reach of Angels 51

5 A Superhuman Feat 58

6 Nobody Cares 65

7 The Mother's Tale 80

8 The Rat 88

9 Message from the Gulag 97

10 The Sour Grape 105

11 A Narrow Escape 119

12 Babes in the Wood 128

13 Cognac and Chocolate 137

14 Groundhog Day 147

15 The Blame Game 151

16 Narrow Escape [Reprise] 156

17 The Empire Strikes Back 162

18 Christmas Pudding in July 184

19 The Caged Bird 195

20 One of Us 199

21 Candle Power 211

22 Potentially Very Good News 221

23 Ticket to Santa Barbara 228

24 An Evil Trick 231

25 A Prisoner of the Caucasus 237

26 A White Lie 243

27 Unforgiven 248

28 Reunited 254

29 A Bit of Sleuthing 259

30 The Sister's Tale 267

31 The Vanya Effect 275

Epilogue: The Boy from Bethlehem 280

How This Book Came to Be Written 285

Editorial Reviews

“…a reminder of the power, strength and resiliency of the human spirit...” —Bookreporter.com

“This account of a young boy's narrow escape from an oppressive Russian child-care system will shock you, move you, and ultimately inspire you. The book exposes an appalling injustice, then reminds us about the power of persistence, hope, and compassion. Vanya and those who save him are absolutely inspirational.” —Alvin Townley, author of Spirit of Adventure and Legacy of Honor

“Aided by British journalist Philps, Lahutsky recounts his experiences in the 'children's gulag,' a Stalinist-era relic that operates to this day... A haunting document of human cruelty, kindness, and survival.” —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

Muckraking memoir exposes Russia's nightmarish orphan-care system. Aided by British journalist Philps, Lahutsky recounts his experiences in the "children's gulag," a Stalinist-era relic that operates to this day. Now a high-school student living with his adoptive mother in Pennsylvania, at the time the book opens Lahutsky was a toddler named Vanya, abandoned by his birth mother and diagnosed with cerebral palsy. He was sent to the titular orphanage, a decrepit human warehouse whose head doctor was a superstitious peasant rather than a medical professional. Children with physical disabilities like Vanya's were routinely declared mentally retarded by Russian authorities, then consigned to orphanages where therapy was nonexistent. But Baby House 10 was the Taj Mahal compared to the internat (asylum) to which Vanya was later shuttled to spend the rest of his life. A hellhole in which children were sedated and left in steel-barred cribs soiled with their own urine and feces, the internat spurred reporter Philps, his wife and some humane Russian caregivers to make heroic efforts to save Vanya. The book details his tortuous ordeal with the Russian state bureaucracy and an aborted adoption by a British family, as well as his ultimate connection with a loving American mother. None of his setbacks snuffed out Vanya's indefatigable resilience, which was his salvation and comprises the most remarkable part of his story. An emotionally draining but haunting document of human cruelty, kindness and survival.

Kirkus Reviews