An emotional and important read that takes a close look at one girl’s fight for her future when society turns its back on her. The reader is quickly drawn into Lorraine’s story and can’t help but turn the page to see what will happen next. Sure to spark conversation, this would make an excellent book club or buddy read.

The Girls We Sent Away sent to me by @bookmarked contains a sad but beautiful story about strength and resilience.
Set in the 1960s, seventeen year old Lorraine has it all: a wonderful boyfriend, two parents that love her, on the track to being the first female valedictorian at her high school, with ambitions of going to college with dreams of learning everything there is to know about space, potentially even being an astronaut.
But it all gets derailed when after one evening sending her boyfriend off to college results in her being pregnant, and suddenly the rug is pulled out from under her usually confident and competent feet. I was so engrossed in this story, and rooting for Lorraine. I love that this amazing but sad book stayed very realistic and true, the relatability made it harder to read but also harder to push away to stay distant. Lorraine wasn't „a poor unfortunate soul" she had a solid middle class background, was ambitious, tried to be a good girl, and still, and still... the shame surrounding unwed pregnancies was strong and the Baby Scoop Era did happen - this doesn't necessarily mean that giving the baby up for adoption wasn't a good idea for Lorraine's baby but it should have been a choice, my legal brain was appalled by how signing of the documents was coerced, which doesn't mean it wasn't realistic especially for the era.
I loved all the references to the space craze!

The Girls We Sent Away centers on Lorraine who is bright and talented in the 1960's and planning for a bright future when unfortunately she gets pregnant. Lorraine is an appealing character and you find yourself pulling for her. The book does a great job of giving the reader a sense of what faced a young woman of that age in that time and how far women have come since then. The book brings to light the Baby Scoop era and how many young women felt they had no choice in what happened to them and their babies.

It did feel like the storytelling got a bit melodramatic when Lorraine was at the home but that is often the case with historical fiction. It's more compelling to have good vs evil rather than good vs misguided and unkind. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion. The Girls We Sent Away is available now. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Heart-wrenching, thought-provoking, and anger-inducing. Heart-wrenching that young women during the “baby scoop” had no options, and more importantly, no autonomy over their own bodies. No one asked these girls what they wanted. Everyone else making decisions, and the librarian and the house mother were not so different in thinking their way was best. Anger-inducing because the boys had no repercussions or consequences. Thought-provoking because things are not so different now with the loss of women’s autonomy over their own bodies.
You felt for Lorraine and the other girls, but I would have liked a little more character development on Lorraine’s roommates and more backstory on Alan. Overall a good read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Landmark, and Megan Church for the eARC.

This was my first by the author and will definitely not be my last. The writing was fantastic and I was transported to the time period. This is a very hard aspect of history, but one that needs to be told. It was heartbreaking to read about the antics at the home and the struggles that the girls faced. I loved my time with this book and could not put it down.

In Megan Church's book "The Girls We Sent Away," readers are immersed in a poignant and heart-wrenching narrative that follows the journey of Lorraine, a young woman facing the harsh realities of societal expectations and the Baby Scoop Era of the 1960s.

The book masterfully portrays the heartbreaking experiences of the main character, Lorraine, as she navigates the challenges imposed by her family and society. The unconditional love she seeks and the limits placed on her ambitions resonate deeply, drawing listeners into her emotional turmoil and the societal pressures she confronts.

The "The Girls We Sent Away" is a compelling exploration of the Baby Scoop Era, shedding light on the struggles faced by unwed mothers during that time period. The juxtaposition of breakthrough technologies in the Race to Space with the societal constraints that kept women grounded provides a thought-provoking backdrop for the novel's themes and historical context.

Megan Church's storytelling skillfully captures the tension between Lorraine's desire to assert her agency and the societal norms that seek to control her fate. Through Lorraine's journey, the audiobook offers a powerful reflection on the complexities of love, ambition, and the fight against a system determined to take away her child.

"The Girls We Sent Away" is a compelling story that delves into the emotional depths of its characters while shining a light on a significant era in history. Whether you're drawn to stories of resilience, societal challenges, or historical narratives, this book offers a captivating and thought-provoking reading experience.

I just finished this book, and wow, it really hit hard. Meagan Church writes beautifully about Lorraine's tough journey from being a teen to suddenly becoming a teenage mom. It struck a chord with me because someone close to me went through the same era—the Baby Scoop Era—that Church describes so intensely. It's a raw look at what many young, unwed mothers went through, and it’s more common than you’d think.

Lorraine is incredibly real and relatable. You feel every bit of her fear, humiliation, and isolation as her family shames her and hides her away. Then there’s the huge betrayal when everyone around her just expects her to forget everything and move on. The book does a great job showing how deep and lasting that kind of trauma can be.

One of the big takeaways is about the quiet, tough decisions made in private that really test you and shape who you are. Lorraine’s story is a tough read about the pressures women have faced, often dealing with the fallout of decisions made by two, all on their own. Her journey, filled with choices meant to please others more than herself, is heartbreaking and a stark reflection of what too many women have endured.

Honestly, I couldn’t put the book down. It's a powerful story about struggle, personal strength, and resilience. It's definitely a must-read if you're into stories that pack an emotional punch and make you think.

This was a fast and powerful read. The story focused on a girl named Lorraine who was in her senior year of high school. The book was divided into parts: before she got pregnant, after she got pregnant, her time at the maternity home, and after she gave birth. The narrative style of writing made it easy to get swept up in everything that Lorraine experienced, so it was an emotional roller coaster.

It was interesting leaning about the maternity houses that used to exist and how they manipulated women into giving up their babies. My heart broke for how society treated women in general.

Thank you to #NetGalley for an eARC of #TheGirlsWeSentAway by #MeaganChurch in exchange for honest feedback. - 4 stars

Lorraine is an only child. An honor student, set to be valedictorian. She wants to go to college and dreams of being an astronaut. It's the 1960s, a time when most girls dream of becoming wives and mothers.

When Lorraine finds herself unexpectedly pregnant, she thinks it will mean her dreams get put on hold. She's sure her boyfriend will do the right thing and they'll get married. When he tells her he can "fix it" and if she wants to keep the baby, she will be on her own, her word turns upside down.

Lorraine is sent off to a home for unwed mothers, thinking she can continue her studies there. She feels abandoned by her boyfriend and her parents, and nothing is going the way she thought it would.

This book was heartbreaking, and so well written.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. It was different than anything else I've read recently. I couldn't put it down! I will keep an eye out for this author's future work!

I give this one a 3.5 but rounded to a 4-star read. It really is not bad, I thoroughly enjoyed it and wanted to know what was going to happen. But truth be told, I felt like some characters could have developed a little better. I understand where the main point of the story was going and who he MC was but I feel it would have been good to get a grasp on Clint and Alan. I would of liked to know what Clint was doing and more of Alans backstory. Overall I did enjoy this read!

Thank you @netgalley and @sourcebookslandmark for the advanced copy.

While I appreciated this story in an intellectual way, I never connected with it emotionally.

For me, the writing was a lot of telling and very little showing. I wanted more immersion. I wanted to feel the intensity, the despair, and the anger. I wanted to care about the characters. I didn't, which made this book too easy to put down and forget about.

The Girls We Sent Away is a novel about the Baby Scoop Era in the 1960s. It follows the story of Lorraine, a successful high schooler on track to being valedictorian with dreams of becoming an astronaut, whose life is derailed when she realizes she is pregnant. Her parents hide her away in the house, since she isn't allowed to go back to high school, and her boyfriend tells her that she's on her own. Lorraine is told that her only option is to go away to a maternity house for the last three months of her pregnancy. The girls in the house aren't allowed to tell personal details to one another and they have to sign away their parental rights once they've given birth so that they can get on with their lives afterwards. The story explores some very interesting themes during a time period that I didn't know much about. Unfortunately, I didn't feel very connected to any of the characters, which I think would have made me enjoy the story more. This book will appeal to fans of historical fiction that focuses on women's issues.

I really wanted to read this book,but sadly I didn't get to download it before it archived. This has never happed to me before!!! Therefore, I can't really do a review at this time. I will try to get the book at my local library and come back to review afterwards. For now, I'm giving it five stars since anything less would be unfair, in my opinion.

Set in 1960s North Carolina, 15 yr/old Lorriane found herself pregnant. Her perfect boyfriend, white picket house and all her dreams crash.
This was a gut wrenching novel. Even with the blurb you never know what to get yourself into. The writing was smooth and I loved reading the character growth.

A lot of the story was pulling all the heart strings. I don’t even like pregnancy tropes yet here I am writing an ARC review 😅.

The Girls We Sent Away is sad but a true depiction of what millions of girls endured when they got “in trouble.”
I have not heard of the Baby Scoop Era until recently. I dint think it was called that during the time the unwed mother’s homes were the most active.
Lindsay has to deal with the consequences of one night’s indiscretion while her boyfriend Clint just walked away. I wanted to drop kick him.
The ending is good but it’s not clear on what exactly Lindsay is doing but that she survived and is living her life.

Focused on the not so distant past, where unmarried women were sent away by their families to have their babies in secret, only to have said babies taken by force, The Girls We Sent Away packs a somber punch. As a mother of two myself, this was a hard read. I can't imagine what these poor girls went through. And the poor children! Be prepared for some heavy, heavy themes including societal control of women, mental health, and heaps of trauma. Read with caution and don't be afraid to set this one down if needed. This is a very good book, but it is also heavy.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for this ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily and all views expressed are my own.

This is such a thought-provoking book about life in the 1960s. The way things were back then, teenage pregnancy brought shame to upstanding families in the community. So they dealt with it by sweeping the problem under the rug. Pretending like nothing happened after they sent their daughters away.

So much went on in this book, and I felt so much for the girls. It is heartbreaking and gut wrenching journey, but it had to be to really represent that period of history. I don’t read much historical fiction, but this was definitely a great one!

Thanks to NetGalley, Meagan Church, and @bookmarked for the eARC if this book.

Wow! What a beautiful, emotional story about a time when women didn't have agency over their own bodies. This pulled on all of my emotions. It seemed like everyone involved felt as if they were doing what was right and what was best for these poor young ladies, but none of them were ever asked what they wanted for themselves.

The story was beautifully written. Told in 3rd person, the author was able to flow between many different characters in a way that felt natural. This was my first book by Meagan Church and I will definitely be going back to check out her previous one and any that come in the future.

Great writing by Church - the book details nicely the coming of age story of the girl during a time that was not always easy for women. The way the character was developed throughout the novel was very compelling and she faced many different challenges.