An emotionally raw and resonant story of love, loss, and the enduring power of friendship, following the lives of two young women connected by a home for “fallen girls,” and inspired by historical events. “Home for Erring and Outcast Girls deftly reimagines the wounded women who came seeking a second chance and a sustaining hope.”—Lisa Wingate, author of Before We Were Yours In turn-of-the-20th … of Before We Were Yours
In turn-of-the-20th century Texas, the Berachah Home for the Redemption and Protection of Erring Girls is an unprecedented beacon of hope for young women consigned to the dangerous poverty of the streets by birth, circumstance, or personal tragedy. Built in 1903 on the dusty outskirts of Arlington, a remote dot between Dallas and Fort Worth’s red-light districts, the progressive home bucks public opinion by offering faith, training, and rehabilitation to prostitutes, addicts, unwed mothers, and “ruined” girls without forcibly separating mothers from children. When Lizzie Bates and Mattie McBride meet there—one sick and abused, but desperately clinging to her young daughter, the other jilted by the beau who fathered her ailing son—they form a friendship that will see them through unbearable loss, heartbreak, difficult choices, and ultimately, diverging paths.
A century later, Cate Sutton, a reclusive university librarian, uncovers the hidden histories of the two troubled women as she stumbles upon the cemetery on the home’s former grounds and begins to comb through its archives in her library. Pulled by an indescribable connection, what Cate discovers about their stories leads her to confront her own heartbreaking past, and to reclaim the life she thought she’d let go forever. With great pathos and powerful emotional resonance, Home for Erring and Outcast Girls explores the dark roads that lead us to ruin, and the paths we take to return to ourselves.
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I enjoyed this story. I liked how the chapters told the story from the different character’s points of view, so the book went back and forth from person to person and even from years to years. Some of the book was emotional to read what the girls went through in their lives, but we know that things happened back then, it could be a hard life.
The author did a very good job of telling this story.
In the early 1900’s in Texas, there was a home named Berachah Home that would house and help young unwed mothers. They didn’t take your children, they truly tried to help the young women. In this home, we meet Lizzie and Mattie. They become best friends with shared traumatic pasts. In present time, we meet Cate. She is a librarian who does research on Berachah House. Both timelines, tell the stories of strong, amazing women. I really enjoyed this book and its characters. I received an advanced readers copy and all opinions are my own.
A fascinating book!
Knowing that so much of it is based on real incidents seems to make it all the more intriguing.
As we read we can observe the kindness of some people as well as the callousness of others, and, perhaps worst of all, the indifference of so many.
We can also see how it indicates that the responsibility and guilt the pregnant and unmarried women must bare in society with almost no blame or obligation for the fathers.
The main setting is the Berachah Home, a huge building in Arlington,Texas, where mothers with babies and those expecting babies, impoverished and desperate are welcomed and cared for as long as it is needed. There is much love and friendship shared by residents and staff.
The three main characters are women who become friends at the home and then go on their way when their time is finished.
It continues telling how each copes with their new lives and the adversities of life and learning to fight truth and acceptance into society.
Thank you to our author for her thorough research in bringing a small irrelevant, but treasured piece of history to literary life. Well done!