What do readers think of Women of a Promiscuous Nature by Donna Everhart? Write your own review.

I grew up in a small town not far from Kinston, NC. Reading Women of a Promiscuous Nature took me back to my childhood. My family, including aunts, uncles, grandparents, parents and siblings were well respected and liked. This was important to all of us. Being a small town, if any of us kids misbehaved, our parents would be told. Everyone lived by the saying, “It takes a village to raise a child”. With this being said, I was extremely cautious and reserved around adults. I never understood why, because my parents were gentle and kind. I do not remember any consequences for bad behavior besides a “talking to” which was consequence enough. Reading Donna Everhart’s book made me realize, even as a child I realized bad things can happen if you did not abide by cultural norms. If teenagers or adults were no longer around, all I might hear was sympathy for their family. I knew about the State Prison in Raleigh because we drove by it when we went to Raleigh. I thought it was the scariest place I had ever seen. I had never heard of reform schools or The State Industrial Farm Colony For Women. What I’m trying to say is the time period of this book was a different world of social decorum and male dominance. I don’t doubt any of the things that happened to these women. It was a time of secrets and denials, but sensitive children could sense the dark underbelly of society. Reading this book reminded me of the feelings I had as a child that bad things happen if you are different or do not follow societies rules.

I was completely captivated by this novel. As someone who grew up near this facility, I never heard any history of the facility! This is timely and terrifying to think there was nothing the women could do. The author skillfully weaves the reader into the story so that you feel like you are experiencing the level of pain the residents endure. Solid 5/5!

A cautionary tale about a remarkably horrible time in the not so distant past. There are those who would applaud and who are working for its return. Recommended reading for "fans" of The Handmaid's Tale ....except this is not dystopian, the "American Plan" was US government sanctioned and implemented.

This novel is historical fiction. It is based on fact. And that is exactly what makes the story so hard to read. It is appalling. And its roots, its grounding, are all true. Prepare to be horrified.

That said, it's vitally important that we read books like this that expose what can happen when unfair, detrimental, and discriminating laws are randomly enacted and enforced. In this case, it was the Chamberlain-Kahn Act, otherwise known as the American Plan, that was enacted in 1918 and continued into the 1950s and legally permitted military, police, and health officers to arrest any woman suspected of prostitution.

Mind you, a young woman could be accused of prostitution just because she chose to live alone, chose to eat dinner in a restaurant by herself, or was pretty or unmarried. Husbands who were bored or angry with their wives could turn them in. There were no standards. There was no due process through the legal system. Once arrested, the woman was forced to undergo invasive testing for venereal disease and then sent to jail or to a detention center or workcamp so she could be "rehabilitated."

Set in 1941 in Kinston, North Carolina, this novel by Donna Everhart focuses on a small group of women who have been arrested for prostitution and sent to the State Industrial Farm Colony for Women. Beautiful Ruth with her long, silky black hair has graduated from high school and is living her dream of having her own apartment and a job in the local diner. While walking to work one morning, she is grabbed off the street by the sheriff and driven against her will to the Colony. Stella is smart but a social outcast. She is only 15, but her father has been visiting her bedroom at night for years. Now Stella is pregnant so her enraged mother, who assumes Stella has a no-good boyfriend, sends her off to the Colony to have her "tumor" removed.

The medical treatment received by these women is horrific. Ruth has only ever kissed one boy, but it's determined she has syphilis and is treated repeatedly with arsenic and mercury shots, the standard treatment in this time. The side effects include hair loss, nausea, and loose teeth. Stella is sterilized without her knowledge or permission.

Living in the Colony under the strict rules of the superintendent, Mrs. Dorothy Baker, some 45 women are subjected to a life that resembles a prison. How they survive and what happens to them as they are repeatedly abused and eventually fight back is the basis of this intense and superb page-turner novel that left me stunned, horrified, and angry.

This book sucked me in from the very beginning and to know it was based on historical facts made it even more engaging. Each character was well rounded and engaging to get to know. Moral ambiguity will make for excellent book group discussions.

I love historical fiction as l've written before. This genre opens the past more often than not of real events long forgotten. This is true in the case of this novel. The American Plan referenced in the Author's Note at the end was a heinous law (Chamberlain
-Kahn Act of 1918) to combat venereal disease. This act gave the government the power to "quarantine" any women "suspected" of having an STD. This law lasted until the 1950s.

Such was the case of Ruth Foster in the 1940s walking to work, unmarried, alone. She's taken by the police to be tested for an STD - never mind that's she hasn't had any sexual contact. The law says "suspected." Her test comes out positive and she's carted off to a home where she's incarcerated to learn how to be a better woman. The home is run by puritanical and nasty women who devise awful punishments for women who overstep the rules. Another person assigned to this home is 15-year old Stella Temple who's been raped by her father and is pregnant. Their stories are interwoven with the vile. superintendent of the home, Dorothy Baker. It's a mesmerizing read!

As I read I grew so angry at the lot of all these incarcerated women. They were abused and tortured for frivolous things. Some of the women tell stories of how they ended up in the home which curdle your insides. In our world today, while these homes aren't available, women's rights are contested daily which makes this story very relevant today.
This is a well written book. The ending is a bit of a surprise but it's one given the times make sense. I was just so relieved! This book grabs you, keeps your attention and doesn’t let you down on a compelling read.

I want to thank NetGalley and Keningston for allowing me access to this book.

It always seems to be the way. Society really has trouble with women who don’t conform to the normal ideas of what women are meant to be. It feels like one of those universal truths. Anyone over a certain age who’s not married and a mother is a deviant. Women of a Promiscuous Nature details an actual government program known as the American Plan. Thanks to first the Chamberlin-Kahn Act of 1918 and then The May Act of 1941, women living near army bases could be arrested on suspicion of having venereal diseases. They would then be sent to detention centers where they could be kept for years.

Ruth Foster is one such woman . At age 24, she was still single. She lives alone and holds a job. She’s brought in and examined by a doctor who doesn’t seem to register that she’s a virgin. She’s told she has syphilis and is sent away. Stella has also been sent away. She’s 15 and pregnant. Not that she was a willing participant in how she became pregnant. She’s also sent to the State Industrial Farm Colony. But compared to her home life, she sees this as an improvement. Dorothy Baker, the Superintendent, runs the place like a prison farm. She thinks she’s saving their souls, reforming them so they can be productive members of society. She relies heavily on hard work and punishment to accomplish her goals.

The story is told from the perspectives of all three women. It can be a fine line to write a story with strong emotional ties without becoming too cliched. Stella’s story helps in that regard. And Everhart tries to give the reader an understanding of Baker’s reasoning, warped as it is. In fact, it’s that dichotomy between those who think they’re doing good vs. those that are targeted that makes this such a fascinating story. The lack of due process for those removed to the Colony has eerie parallels to today’s news events and is a reminder that no one is ever safe when a government does away with the rules of law.

I was really wondering how this story could end on a realistic note. Trust me, it does. One question that remained unanswered for me was whether Ruth was actually infected, which seemed unlikely.

My thanks to Netgalley and Kensington Publishing for an advance copy of this book.

Everything in this book is so "southern nice". It's treacly and the tone and plot don't begin to capture the true horror of being forcibly detained and subject to damaging, invasive, and irreversible medical procedures.

But to start at the beginning: I was never going to get into this book because of the author's major structural choices. It's written in present tense, which is a tricky choice I associate more with fanfic writers trying awkwardly to lend a sense of urgency to the work. And present tense for a historical fiction book? What an odd, time space-confounding choice! In addition, although chapters were ostensibly written from a single character's perspective, the narration was omniscient throughout and the author would often stray into different characters' thoughts and perspectives.

And now to the characters: I have long believed that human beings are intrinsically deserving of respect and honor, regardless of how "respectful" or "honorable" they behave. A character shouldn't have to be a paragon of virtue for unjust treatment of that character to be wrong. I'm sure some of the women who were detained and forcibly sterilized were, like the two main characters in this book, completely free from any wrongdoing. However, I bet more were genuinely involved in behavior seen as prurient at the time, from working in brothels or speakeasies to having sex for pleasure. These women were not deserving of imprisonment just because they transgressed social boundaries. By largely omitting these women from the narrative (except for Lucy, the prostitute with a heart of gold), the author is (unintentionally) implying that only "pure" women deserve our pity in this situation.

The reverse is true as well: outside of horror novels, "evil" characters should be complex and have some redeeming qualities. This is moderately true about one of the antagonists, but the other antagonist is a vision of pure evil; with no backstory or explanation for her character, she comes across as a cartoon.

I know this seems like a one-star review, but by reading this book, I learned and was inspired to learn more about horrifying forced sterilization programs throughout the US, and especially in North Carolina, where they lasted until the 1970s! So props to the book for that.