It is a tragic part of our history, but as the Government has recently announced the setting up of a committee investigating the State's Role in the Magdalen Laundries, books about the topic have been getting some media attention. The best book on the subject is Ireland's Magdalen Laundries and the Nation's Architecture of Containmane by James M. Smith.
 
'Ireland’s Magdalen Laundries is an important book, written with scrupulous attention to detail and impeccably researched. This is a dark and deeply emotional subject about which James M. Smith manages to be fair-minded and calm in his judgments. It is an essential book for anyone interested in the fear and cruelty surrounding women’s sexuality in the Ireland of the recent past."
~Colm Toibin