The Girls We Sent Away
A historical novel set in 1960s North Carolina following seventeen-year-old Lorraine, who becomes pregnant and is sent to a maternity home for unwed girls during the so-called Baby Scoop Era. The emotional weight is consistently heavy, centering on institutional coercion, parental abandonment, and the forced relinquishment of a newborn.
Chapters to know about
A scene depicts Lorraine and her boyfriend losing their virginity together before he leaves for college; brief and non-graphic but unexpected given the book's general tone.
The maternity home staff pressure girls to sign relinquishment forms immediately upon arrival, use deception, and undermine residents' self-confidence; emotional abuse from parents and institution recurs across the middle and final portions of the book.
Lorraine's parents offer no support or sympathy after she discloses her pregnancy, fabricate a cover story, and drop her at the maternity home without visiting, writing, or offering advice.