I absolutely loved Julie Kibler’s book “Calling Me Home”, so I was truly looking forward to reading her latest. The story is based on the real Berachah Industrial Home for the Redemption of Erring Girls in the early 1900’s. This plot seems unfocused and all over the place. It moved along very slowly and I could never really connect to any of the characters, so I was disappointed. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced reader’s copy of this book.

I received an ARC of this novel through Netgalley in exchange for my review. It has been a long wait for another book from Julie Kibler who also wrote one of my favorite books, Calling Me Home, but it was worth the wait! Kibler just unearths the most interesting stories and she has such attention to detail that she really brings the past to life. In this story, the main character Cate Sutton is a college librarian who discovers a century-old story about a home for “erring and outcast girls.” This was not just a home for women who needed a place to go until their babies were born, but a home for the most damaged and betrayed women in society who had no place to go. Cate dives in to the stories of two women in particular, Lizzie Bates and Mattie McBride. As she tracks down their stories, she uncovers some truths in her own life that she has not dealt with, choosing to bury her own past. I thought this story was detailed and well written and in light of today’s “me too” movement a very powerful reminder of just how far women have come.

Julie Kibler has written a beautiful story of loss and redemption, inspired by historical events. Told in deifferent past and present timelines, Home for Erring and Outcast Girls will make you glad we have moved on from the prejudices of the past.
Cate Sutton, a librarian, finds the stories of Lizzie Bates and Mattie McBride, who resided in the Berachah Home for the Redemtion and Protection of Erring Girls in the early 1900’s. As Cate researches and uncovers their stories, she confronts her own past, and how to heal.

At a time when girls who were disgraced were sent away from home, some came together to create a home for wayward girls. Women have always been held to a higher standard at times with little or no respect, these troubled girls came together to respect, love and support others like them. As a mother I want to be my daughters biggest support, and let them know they always deserve respect, our grandmother's have fought for it.

3.5 Stars..
Told from 3 points of view; first wemeet Lizzy and Mattie (early 1900's Texas) who find themselves in need of the protection and housing offered by the Berachah Home. The Berachah Home is a place that takes in pregnant, abused and women (often with children) in desperate need. The Berachah Home offers them a safe harbor and home until they can get on their feet or otherwise choose to move on. The third narrator is Cate (present day), a librarian at the University of Texas where archives from the Berachah Home are kept. The archives include recorded newsletters detailing some of the home's history. Intrigued by a cemetery and the records stored at the library, Cate tries to piece together the life story of Lizzy and Mattie.

There is a lot that goes on in this story, maybe a little too much. I found myself getting confused between the women, their abusive backgrounds and current plight mixed in with drama from Cate's life was just a little too much. Wait...which one had the husband? Which one had secrets? Which one was prostituted? ............

Overall I enjoyed the story. Well written, well researched, good character building, great dialog with a splash of suspense. Historical fiction is my favorite genre and I had much higher hopes for this one. I think there was just a little too much going on and it made the story drag on and on.

If you’re drawn to books that switch between characters or time periods. You get the best of both worlds with Home for Erring and Outcast Girls. This book switches between time periods, from present, to not so distant past, to almost a century back to the Berachah Home for the Redemption and Protection of Erring Girls. It also switches between characters within these time periods. I thoroughly enjoyed the multiple plot lines transpiring into one story within this novel. Add a flavor of little known history, and you have a historical fiction that needs to be shared.

The Berachah Home takes in women off the streets, and helps to support them and their babies, keeping mom and child together. At a time when babies were often separated from their mothers and provided to loving couples to be raised, this home broke the social norm to keep families intact and support women in a way many others would never have considered. More than a century later, Cate, needs her own redemption, healing from a past she continues to grapple with. Can delving into the stories of past “lost” women, help her to find her own way?

This book is full of emotion, rich as well as raw. Julie Kibler did a beautiful job developing characters whose stories are eloquently woven together. I felt for these women, all of them, for their hardships and triumphs as they navigate their world to finding their true selves or recovering from where they used to be. It’s not only the personal development that I appreciated, but the interpersonal relationships built throughout the story as well, and I often found the chapters would leave me grasping for more time with each woman.

Set in central Texas, this historical fiction is about homes designed to help wayward females get their lives back on track. The author does not gloss over the hardships of the era. The story traces characters over several years in the past and contrasts with similar issues in the present day: babies, loss and family connections

I enjoyed this story for several reasons. The setting, central Texas, is familiar to me. It’s historical fiction, which is always a favorite. And it’s about something I wasn’t familiar with, homes designed to help wayward females get their lives back on track. The author holds nothing back as she describes the hardships of the era. No glossing over things that are unpleasant. The story follows the lives of a couple of main characters, tracing their paths over a period of several years. Children born, children lost, friends and family gained and forgotten. It was a little drawn out in parts and occasionally had me wondering where the story was going. Still, it was an interesting read!

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the characters in this book were based on real people. This was a new piece of history for me and I found it very interesting. Kibler's writing is very good and very comfortable. She has the ability to develop characters that feel very real, flaws and all. The plot is developed with the existence of two separate storylines and four separate narrative views. It sounds terribly complex and confusing, but it is masterfully done and at no point did I feel lost or confused by this. I was, unfortunately, disappointed by the swiftness of the ending and the author's choice to leave a major plot point open and ambiguous. I would very much have appreciated something more comprehensive and concrete.

For the full review visit "Home for Erring and Outcast Girls" on EPJ: https://erraticprojectjunkie.blogspot.com/2019/03/home-for-erring-and-outcast-girls-by.html

Well written. Compassionate, enthralling, The kind of book that stays with you.
One hell of a book with shocking revelations I never saw coming

Story of pregnant Lizzie just didn't capture my attention. I thought it was drab and monotone. I just never captured my interest.

This book set in dual timelines, 1904 and 2017, wandered and I didn't wander with it. Somehow, I couldn't connect. But kudos to the author for her research. I am sure there are others who will enjoy this book, but it wasn't one I enjoyed. In fairness and for that reason, I will give this book 3 stars, for the writing, but the subject matter wasn't one I was interested in.

Stories of women seperated by a century. Home for Erring and Outcast Girls is the story of 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. It was an innovative home designed to take women off of the streets and give them religion. Where most of these homes would force women to give their children up for adoption, the Berachah home allowed the children to remain with their mothers. It is a story of unlikely friendship.

A lifetime apart, Cate Sutton discovers Lizzie and Mattie in the library where she works and in an old and unkempt cemetery nearby. What exactly was “The Home for Erring and Outcast Girls”? Was it a good option for young women and their mostly illegitimate children or something else? With only a handful of ancient records and the cemetery as a resource, Cate sets out to discover just that. While dealing with issues and struggles in her own life and mind, she takes on a young assistant with her own drama and delves into the lives of Lizzie and Mattie and the other young women and staff at the home. She comes to know and love them as much as one can without having ever met. This book took me back to another time and into the lives of some unfortunate young ladies and kept me there long after I finish the last page. If you enjoy his Storico fiction, put this book on your must read list! Thank you to NetGalley for an advance read copy of this great book.

This novel was an emotional, interesting and detailed journey that takes place in two different times periods. It tells the story of three women who all have experienced significant traumas in their lives. The journeys that take place in the 1900's are based off the Berachah Home. I liked that the novel was based off real places and people.

I absolutely loved this book!! If you love historical fiction this book is definitely a must read. I fell in love with Mattie and Lizzie. They are young mothers trying to survive thru some very difficult and hard times. Just a very strong and powerful read. Shows the lack of choices woman had during the early 19th century as well as drug addiction during that time. I really got attached to the characters and at times found myself crying. Emotionally raw!!!
Beautifully written. Highly recommend!!!

*Thank you to the author and publisher for an ARC of this book in return for a fair and honest review.
"Home for Erring and Outcast Girls" was not quite what I was expecting. Well, one of the the stories was, but I wasn't expecting the other two. This novel does tell the story of a group of women who lived at the home back in the day, but also weaves in two, more contemporary, stories (both contemporary stories are about the same woman, just at different points in her life). While I truly enjoyed the historical piece about the actual Home, I really did not enjoy the two others. I believe this book would have been better if the author had just stuck with the one idea, and saved the other two for a different book. That said, it's worth the read simply for the true story of the Home and some of the women who resided there.

This novel is for anyone who enjoys a good historical fiction read. The novel moves between early 1900’s Texas and Texas of today. A century ago, a woman or girl who found herself penniless, “ruined”, raped, molested, pregnant etc often had nowhere to turn. Families would throw a girl out onto the streets. It was seen as her fault always. Mattie and Lizzie are young mothers on their own living in hard times. They are both told about the Home for Erring Girls and turn to it as a place of refuge. What Lizzie and Mattie do with their lives once they get there is part of the story. Then the story moves back and forth to modern day- Cate. Cate has more in common with the outcast girls then it may seem at first. She follows her own journey dealing with heartache and family betrayal.
It is a thought provoking, sad, and touching book about how much life has changed for women for the better, but also how we still have the capacity to hurt the ones we love. But ultimately the protagonists speak their own truth to find their own happiness.

A book of saga proportions. A look at woman and the lack of choices they had in the early 19th century. An interesting look at drug addition at a time when only "those woman" had addictions and must be reeducated or redeemed. What made this book interesting was the fact that few historical fiction novels deal with drug addition. I did find some of the book a bit tedious and wanted to get back to the historical time line, as you go back and forth between a contemporary story and one from the turn of the 19th century. Recommend to readers of Wiseman.

Julie Kibler is a great writer.
I fell madly in love with her book “Calling Me Home”, her debut novel published in 2013. Her irresistible novel often had me laughing or crying.
Julie is gifted in her ability to portray the perceptions and emotions of her characters. She writes with sensitivity, and insights, rendering meticulous attention to details.
This second novel....”Home for Erring and Outcast Girls”.....has been a long anticipated wait. Many of Julie’s fans...me included...are excited happy campers with this new book. Its wonderful! The research is impeccable .....crafting is easy to follow ...and storytelling is vibrant.

Julie - once again - delivers an evocative - emotional - sorrowful - captivating story.
She engages and educates us about a little known time in history.

A little background history:
The Berachah Industrial Home for the Redemption of Erring Girls was a facility for unwed mother’s in Arlington, Texas. Reverend James T. and Maggie May Upchurch opened the home in 1903. It took in homeless, usually pregnant women from Texas and the surrounding states. Unlike other homes in the area for “fallen women”, women at the Berachah Home were required/ allowed to keep their babies. They were not forced to give their babies up for adoption.
The home closed in 1935 but then reopened as an orphanage from 1936-1942.
The University of Texas purchase a property in 1963. On March 7, 1981, a Texas Historical Marker was installed and dedicated at the graveyard that served Berache Home.

Following several women from the early 1900’s..... to present day
we meet:
.......Cate Sutton......modern day archival librarian at The University of Texas in the year 2017. We also meet Cate’s assistant, Laurel Medina, - a few of her personal friends ....learn about her past life and the work that occupies her every waking moment. It’s not legal to take the archives home - ( they must stay at the library)....but we can feel how Cate wishes she could spend her days-off from work snuggled up at home reading those archives.
Her fascination and dedication - learning all she can about the women who lived in the Berachah House was her passion. Going out with a friend was almost a chore - she felt more at home with the dead.
Cate often visited the cemetery when she was longing for something she couldn’t have: HOME.
“Situations that require intimacy of any kind, however, topple the careful balance I’ve worked so hard to create. I accepted it years ago. And despite my therapist’s confidence, it remains painfully obvious when I attempt to engage on anything more than a surface level”.
“I am a grown woman. I am a professional. I manage my life well.
But I am broken. People sense it, and when they do, they walk away”.
“Me? I run”.
We’ll learn more about Cate .....and experience her growth.

We also meet:
.......Lizzie Bates. Lizzie is 19 when we first meet her in 1904. She has a baby name Docie. They come to live at the House....after some of the most devastating things she endured....really awful. My heart ached!
In the beginning before the Berachah House...
“How Lizzie had earned her keep out at a country farm, lately, cooking for Negro inmates. How the farm superintendent had taken her into his own shack to live in sin, feeding her heroin to subdue her, and then passed her to the chain gang boss when he tired of her. How’d she taken sick, and it crippled her so badly she couldn’t stand. And finally, how they’d sent her and Docie to jail, no regard for whether she lived or died”.
Lizzie’s time at the house - the way she changes was really beautiful. I came to really treasure her goodness - the pure soul she was born with and passed on to her daughter .....and best friend Mattie.

We also meet Mattie Corder.... 23 years at the ‘start’.
I loved Mattie as much as Lizzie...but I worried about her differently. Mattie’s outer shell was more feisty than Lizzie. It looks like she is confident and strong...less sensitive than Lizzie.
She’s definitely angry, sad, beaten down with grief —( her baby son died)... but her bark is bold, ruthless!. But really .... my opinion about both Lizzie and Mattie change and inter-change over time. I felt I grew with both of these women - and grew to understand them why Mattie might be sarcastic and Lizzie not.

The history and real people ( Lizzie and Mattie), and others: Reverend James Toney, Maggie Mae Upchurch, etc..... was fascinating to learn about. Sad too....just can’t get away from the sadness.

The author’s notes at the end are deeply felt...
The entire book is excellent. I’ll continue to read anything Julie Kibler writes!

Thank You Netgalley, Crown Publishing, and Big Congrats to Julie Kibler 💖