This is a lovely heartbreaking story . Follows the lives of two very close sisters Effie and Luella Tildon . When the sisters visit a gypsy and Luella becomes enchanted and long for a life of adventure. Soon after she rebels against her parents she runs away to join them her sister’s grief sets her out to find her sister and leads her to the house of mercy and Mabel . Mabel’s story is tragic and enthralling. This book is beautifully written and hard to put down

This book is a great example of a work that doesn’t live up to its potential. The idea is fantastic, and at some points the editing and story telling really did capture me and put me firmly in the work. Unfortunately it seems like the author tried to do too much - it never feels like the Mercy House was actually a focal point of the book, which is odd considering the title, wrote up, and authors notes at the end (I actually think Not Without My sister which seems to have been a working title would have been a better choice). There are too many “main characters” and POV switching which results in none of them feeling fully fleshed out, which is a shame because they all have fantastic potential.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free e-arc of this book.

This was a lovely, haunting story. Not lovely in subject matter; the story was much too serious for that. But the writing itself was lovely and captivating. The historical research that went into this novel is wonderful and really helped to draw me into the story.

<i>The Girls with No Names</i> follows the lives of sisters Luella and Effie Tildon, Mable Winter, and a cast of other characters in the early 1900s. The story begins with Luella and Effie visiting a gypsy camp in the middle of the night, which seems to give Luella a longing for adventure and wandering. Effie spends her life trying to please everyone around her, but mostly her sister. Their stories are interesting and tragic, but not nearly so much as Mable's. I know the story was focused on the sisters, but I was so drawn to Mable's history and her redemption. My heart just broke for her as her story unfolded between the chapters following the Tildons.

I wouldn't say that the novel necessarily had a happy ending, but it was definitely satisfying. I was especially pleased with how Mable's story line wrapped up.

A side note - the author included an explanation in the afterward about her decision to use "gypsy" versus "Romani" in the novel, which I thought was a wonderful inclusion. She was careful to note that she chose to use "gypsy" due to the historical context, and briefly discussed it being an offensive and outdated slur.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I'm gonna be honest: I read the first two pages and can't bring myself to keep going. The very first page has a description of a girl relieving herself, which is not really something I wanted to read in detail. Then I run across the tired cliché of the female narrator comparing herself with another girl and saying how she (narrator) is flat-chested and not as pretty as the other. I know we women do that to ourselves but I'm still really tired of reading about it.

So with those two things on my mind, I can't motivate myself to read farther. I'm sure this is a good story but I can't get past that first impression. Sorry.

I think the author changed the name. In the back of the book, it said something like Not Leaving a Sister Behind or something Ike that.
Thank you to @netgalley for the ARC. I enjoyed this historical fiction book set around the early 1900s. As I am reading it, I was thinking that it was all pure fiction just set in another time period. However, the author’s note told me otherwise. When author’s of historical fiction take the time to write an author’s note and explain the real parts of the book, for me, that totally elevates the reading experience.

Reminiscent of Woman 99 with the fictional story surrounding the sad historic truth of women/young girl asylums. As the author's research discovered these asylums also existed in the United States and young women were sent there for ridiculous reasons including having corresponded with or kissed a boy. The fictional story of the bond between sisters broken and led astray by the dishonesty of parents trying to protect their daughter and reputations, and of a friendship of two young girls with vastly different stories meeting in an asylum and being each other's life lines.

This was an amazing story of survival during the 1900's in New York City. Luella and Effie Tildon are growing up in a mansion that is located near the House of Mercy, a home for wayward girls. Luella leaves home after discovering a secret their father is keeping from their mother and does not really say where she is going--just disappears. Effie is beside herself because the two sisters are very close. She thinks her father sent her to the Mercy Home and hatches a plan to get in there and find Effie and bring her home. After she is admitted to the home, Effie discovers that Luella is NOT there but she is stuck there and can not get out because nobody will believe her and only one person knows she is there. Effie meets Mabel, who has her own story of a difficult past and how she ended up in the Mercy Home, which she has never told anyone about. The story is narrated by several characters, Effie, Louella, their mother and Mabel as the story progresses. These girls face unbelievable hardships, punishments in captivity, maltreatment and backbreaking work that they are forced to do daily. The is an amazing historical fiction story based on the real Magdalene Laundry houses that were run in the 1900's for the many different types of women who ended up there. So sad but a wonderful story of survival. Well written with very interesting characters and quite an intriguing plot. Thanks to NG for the ARC!

A look a the constraints and fears women had to live with everyday, no matter their economic status. Burdick gives her reader a sweeping overview of "misbehaving" girls/women across economic divisions and what men had the right to do to them. While this is historical fiction, it is truly not all that long ago girls/women had no rights, not over their bodies or their minds. Well written.

I enjoyed this story, written about Luella, Effie, and Mable in NYC in the 1910's. Actually a period of history that I had never read anything about. The story about the House of Mercy, for wayward girls. Their lives and their secrets. Especially interesting was reading about the suffragettes and the fights for unions and better working conditions. Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Two sisters go into a world that they shouldn't be in! Then one disappears and has to be found but who to trust? Well written by Net Galley gave to me to read. Scary,sitting on the edge of your seat wondering who can be trusted! Adventures the sisters get themselves into ! Loved the story and so will you!

’s the turn of the last century in New York City and wealthy Luella and Effie have grown up in the shadow of Mercy House, a place where “wayward girls” are forced to live and work in deplorable conditions. This is a time when even wealthy young women have little power and the sisters are aware that they could lose everything if they don’t obey the conventions of polite society. But, Luella, chafing at those bonds throws polite behavior to the wind after discovering the secret her father had hidden. When she disappears, Effie is sure her father has sent Luella to Mercy House and comes up with a plot to get herself committed so she can find her sister. Her idea backfires when she can’t get out of the workhouse. It’s not until she meets Mabel, one of the other girls that Effie begins to understand how limited her world is, how limited the lives that all women are. This may be a story set more than 100 years in the past, but it’s just as relevant today, in a world where women still don’t earn as much as men, have yet to hold the highest offices and routinely have to fight off sexism and ignorance