Book Summary and Reviews of Wayward Girls by Susan Wiggs

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Elizabeth

Do NOT miss this book - it's wonderful!!
Be prepared to find the truth about these schools known as the Magdalene Laundries where they sent girls back in the 60s for many different reasons.

Some were sent there because of pregnancy - others were sent there just because their parents wanted them out of the house or they couldn’t afford them, but most of the reasons were not really legitimate to keep them.

They didn’t educate them. They used the girls as free labor for doing laundry for local businesses and treated them like prisoners.

These schools were run by nuns with many strict rules, very little nutritious food, horrible punishments, and with the outside world thinking the girls were being treated well and being redeemed

We meet Mairin, who was dragged there by her mother. While she is there she befriends other girls, but tries to escape every chance she can.

The girls become close and realize they need each other to endure what goes on.

You will love the characters and the lifelong friendships they made, but your heart will break for them.

WAYWARD GIRLS is another marvelously researched, pull-you-in book by Susan Wiggs that will also have you shedding tears.

Be sure to add it to your TBR. 5/5

Thank you to the publisher for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

jillg

Wayward Girls
By Susan Wiggs
Narrated by Susan Wiggs, Jane Oppenheimer, and Cynthia Farrell
3.5 stars, rounded up to 4

Set in 1968 Buffalo, Wayward Girls explores the heartbreaking reality of girls sent to Catholic reform schools.

We meet 15-year-old Mairin, who is sent to the Good Shepherd reform school, where she befriends other girls who have also been placed there under painful and often unjust circumstances. Mairin is determined to escape and to seek both redemption—and justice.

The narration by Susan Wiggs, Jane Oppenheimer, and Cynthia Farrell is finely done and adds depth to the story and its characters.

Though their time together was brief, the bond between these girls proves lasting. When they reunite years later, they find that no one else understands them the way they understand each other.

Wiggs shines a light on institutions like Catholic reform schools and Magdalene laundries—places meant to “reform” girls labeled as morally deviant. The reality for these girls was heartbreaking—emotional and physical abuse, being cut off from the outside world, and forced to work under the name of faith and discipline. Families, influenced by the Church, often believed they were helping their daughters, even when abuse was reported. As we now know, the Church too often prioritized its reputation over the protection of children. And of course, money played a role.

This was my first book by Susan Wiggs, and I appreciated her storytelling and writing. I’m open to reading more of her work.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperAudio Adult | HarperAudio for the advanced listening copy.