The Girls We Sent Away by Meagan Church

 

My thoughts

This author's debut of THE LAST CAROLINA GIRL was one of my favorites. I adored that book and this one is my new favorite by this author. This book will take you through the time when females had very little or no say in what happened to them and their lives if they got pregnant. They had to bear the shame no matter what if they were pregnant outside of marriage. Men could just go right on with their lives and do whatever they choose. No rules. No punishment. No shame.

Lorraine was a typical seventeen year old child back in the early 1960s. She was an only child and seemed to be the apple of her dad's eye. Her mom was a bit stricter in that she would call Lorraine on every little thing dealing with decency. How dare Lorraine let her swimsuit strap fall off her shoulder. Too much skin showing. Good grief. 

Lorraine was on track to be valedictorian of her high school that year. She had plans to go to college. She wanted to be someone who left her mark on the world. She loved anything to do with space and wanted to fly to the moon one day. All of that was dashed when she found herself pregnant after just one time with her boyfriend. Her friend for almost her whole life. Lorraine and Clint had known each other forever and been dating for two years. But Clint had other plans and that did not include being a husband or father. 

You get to know exactly what Lorraine went through at home and at the home for unwed mothers. All the hurt and pain she feels. All the fears she experiences. How her heart broke because no one seemed to care. Not Clint or her parents. No one at this awful home either. The librarian was nice to her and tried to help her get her GED. She seemed like a good friend who cared. Until it was time. Until Lorraine went into labor. Then she was on her own. The descriptions of what Lorraine felt in the delivery room felt so real. The way she hurt over losing her baby. Not being able to keep that child almost did her in. I felt her pain so deep. It made me weep. 

This book is filled with emotions. You feel it. I didn't like Lorraine's parents. I hated Clint. I adored Alan. I hoped that Lorraine's mother was going to be there but I didn't feel it. After all was said and done it was still about appearances for her. 

Do not miss the author's notes at the end. They are perfect. They give a lot of insight into this book and how it came to be. Being a mother is a hard job but it's a fulfilling one also. If that is what you're ready for. No woman should ever be forced into having a baby or giving one up. That is just wrong. It should be her choice. Her decision.

Thank you #NetGalley, #MeaganChurch, #SourcebookLandmark, #RBMedia for this ARC. This is my own true thoughts about this book.

FIVE huge stars and the highest recommendation. 

About

A searing book club read for fans of Ellen Marie Wiseman and The Girls with No Names set in the Baby Scoop Era of 1960s and the women of a certain condition swept up in a dark history.

It's the 1960s and Lorraine Delford has it all – an upstanding family, a perfect boyfriend, and a white picket fence home in North Carolina. Yet every time she looks through her father's telescope, she dreams of the stars. It's ambitious, but Lorraine has always been exceptional. 

But when this darling girl-next-door gets pregnant, she's forced to learn firsthand the realities that keep women grounded. 

To hide their daughter's secret shame, the Delfords send Lorraine to a maternity home for wayward girls. But this is no safe haven – it's a house with dark secrets and suffocating rules. And as Lorraine begins to piece together a new vision for her life, she must decide if she can fight against the powers that aim to take her child or submit to the rules of a society she once admired.

Powerful and affecting, The Girls We Sent Away is a timely novel that explores autonomy, belonging, and a quest for agency when the illusions of life-as-you-know-it fall away.