A compelling read that invoked much anger and disgust as I read it.
I knew about unwed mother’s homes ran by the Church over 50 years ago but I hadn’t heard of the Magdalene laundries.
What occurred in those facilities was criminal, brutal, and repulsive.
I thought many of the perpetrators should have been walloped.
It sickened me to think about the heartache and trauma inflicted upon the girls as well as the crimes perpetrated by the Church, especially with adoptions.

When I saw the synopsis for Wayward Girls, I knew this was a book I needed to read and scream about. And boy, it did not disappoint. Wayward GIrls is a gut-wrenching story of abuse. The teenage protagonists of the book are sent to a Catholic home for their "sins" - sneaking out to see a movie with a boy, talking back to their parents, having a developmental delay, or getting pregnant. I loved the dual timelines of the 1960s and present day. Wiggs' writing is breathtakingly beautiful. She's crafted a really important story, one based on reality, that I knew nothing about prior to reading her book. I will absolutely be recommending this book to fans of historical fiction.

Thank you Uplit Reads and NetGalley for the eARC!

I absolutely LOVED this! Fantastic characters (Mairin and Angela were my favorites), excellent writing and storytelling, those Wayward Girls kept me turning pages all night! Looking back, the late 60's was not that long ago, and to know that those practices were still done so recently is heartbreaking. As a mom (who also used to be a teen girl), some parts were hard to read about yet I still loved this book. It gave Shawshank vibes, had a bit of a love story, explored life long friendships, grief...again, just loved it! If you loved Before We Were Yours, I definitely recommend Wayward Girls. Now I need to go devour Susan Wiggs whole backlog!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read in exchange for my honest review!

What a story. It is heartbreaking to know that things like this actually happened to hundreds of young women. It really made me think about all of the reasons the girls ended up at Good Shepherd and how reality can be so different than what we hear or see on the outside. The only complaint I had was that there was definitely some repetition of speech and ideas.

Sent to a children’s home run by nuns, Mairin does everything she can do to get away. Loosely based on true stores, this novel is powerful. ARC from NetGalley.

Wow! What a book! This was a book that I couldn't put down! Beautifully written, believable characters! I will definitely look for this author again! Thank you for the opportunity!

Susan Wiggs is a new author for me. I picked up this book because I remembered my mother reading a book by Susan Wiggs years ago called [book:The Apple Orchard|16074553] and she really liked it. I haven't read that one, but I thought i would try the author.

Description:
In 1968 we meet six teens confined at the Good Shepherd—a dark and secretive institution controlled by Sisters of Charity nuns—locked away merely for being gay, pregnant, or simply unruly.

Mairin— free-spirited daughter of Irish immigrants, committed to keep her safe from her stepfather.

Angela—denounced for her attraction to girls, sent to the nuns for reform, but instead found herself the victim of a predator.

Helen—the daughter of intellectuals detained in Communist China, she saw her “temporary” stay at the Good Shepherd stretch into years.

Odessa—caught up in a police dragnet over a racial incident, she found the physical and mental toughness to endure her sentence.

Denise—sentenced for brawling in a foster home, she dared to dream of a better life.

Janice—deeply insecure, she couldn’t decide where her loyalty lay—except when it came to her friend Kay, who would never outgrow her childlike dependency.

Sister Bernadette—rescued from a dreadful childhood, she owed her loyalty to the Sisters of Charity even as her conscience weighed on her.

Wayward Girls is a haunting but thrilling tale of hope, solidarity, and the enduring strength of young women who find the courage to break free and find redemption...and justice.

My Thoughts:
This book was so sad. The Good Shepherd was supposed to keep girls safe and provide education. That's not what the girls sent there found at all. The corruption and abuse the girls were subjected to here is horrific. I found the resilience and resourcefulness of the girls admirable. The way they came together and helped one another was inspiring. This makes you wonder about this type of place and what is really hidden there. Religion has been in the news quite a bit with corruption uncovered - more and more all the time. It's really scary. People can be so trusing. An interesting book and an eye-opening read.

Thanks to William Morrow through Netgalley for an advance copy.

I was really not connecting with this one so I didn’t finish it. Too many POVs without enough distinction in their voices. This novel is not the usual kind of thing that I read so if you like historical fiction it might be for you! But it was definitely not for me.

found Susan Wiggs' new novel, Wayward Girls, to be a compelling account of life in a Catholic Reform School in the 1960s in Buffalo, NY. It was very readable, and the author led you to care about each of the girls and even understand the motivations of the less likable characters. I especially appreciated the extended timeline of the novel, which allowed us to see the characters in their later lives. All in all I highly recommend. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Wayward Girls is available now.

Wayward Girls by Susan Wiggs tackles the tough topic of young girls being placed into what the public believes are Catholic reform schools for a wide variety of reasons (pregnancy, unruliness, attitude, to get the child away from an abuser at home, insert any possible reason here). The truth is that these reform schools didn't offer any classes or academic education of any sort; the girls were forced labor for the church.

In this novel based on real events, we follow six girls placed into the Good Shepherd reform school in Buffalo, NY during the 1960s. The school was run by the Sisters of Charity nuns. There the girls did laundry. Not permitted to even converse with each other, they were harshly treated, poorly fed, and suffered emotional and physical abuse at the hands of those who were to care for them.

Despite their environment and the rules meant to isolate them from each other and foster distrust of others, these six girls decided the only way they would be able to survive their time at Good Shepherd or (hope upon hope) possibly escape, was by forging bonds and working together.

The evident detailed research done by the author into such schools, her powerful descriptions and her richly developed and drawn characters bring the story to life in a wonderful way. I was fully engaged throughout; horrified at times, yet cheering for the girls determined to find friendship, freedom, and justice. What spirit, what resilience these girls had!

Wiggs tells the story in two timelines - during the girls' time at the Good Shepherd and decades later as they come together again to find answers and make sure the public hear the truth.

A beautifully written book and a wonderful read, this gets 5 solid stars from me!

My thanks to the author for all of her hard work and skills in bringing this story to our attention, and to the William Morrow publishing house for allowing me to read an DRC of the book via NetGalley. Publication occurred 7/15/25. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own and are freely given.

Thank you William Morrow and Netgalley for this ARC! A riveting story from a time where "troubled girls" were sent to catholic institutions to become "better" people and authorities never questioned their practices that involved physical/sexual/mental abuse, slave labor and torture. Tho the novel is fiction it's greatly researched on true events that happened to these young woman who finally get a voice after 50 years of it going on deaf ears. I found it very emotional that people of "god" could be so vicious and cruel to children. The story is set in Buffalo NY and the author did a wonderful accurate portrayal of the city and sites (since I live in Buffalo also!) and are all factually true.

Wayward Girls is a powerful and unsettling piece of historical fiction that dives into the lives of six teenage girls sent to a secret institution ran by nuns in 1968. Each of their stories is heartbreaking and touches on themes of injustice, survival, and resilience. These girls endure unimaginable hardship and yet their bonds and personal growth shine through. The pacing did drag in places, and I occasionally found myself drifting, but the beautiful writing and character depth always pulled me back in. The ending was satisfying and wrapped nicely.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the gifted copy.

Happy Pub Day to Wayward Girls! This was such a heartwrenching book that was so good and I highly recommend reading it. Thanks to William Morrow for my advanced copy!

This historical fiction set in the 1960s is based on a real-life Catholic reform school in Buffalo. I knew about Magdalene Laundries in Ireland but this book hit closer to home with the horrors that young women experienced.

I liked how this historical fiction gave us the 1960s story first of 6 girls sent to the Good Shepherd for various reasons and then we have the current story of them reconnecting over 50 years later.

This book won't be for everyone with the content but I thought the author did such an incredible job of telling this story with such strength and hope while bringing to light the horrors of these "schools". So much research was done in writing this book and I like that while the characters were fictional, the experiences of these girls were based on the lived experiences of so many young women.

I do highly recommend reading this book and while such a tough read it was a five-star book!

Wayward Girls by Susan Wiggs is a wrenching but life-affirming novel based on a true story of survival, friendship, and redemption when six girls come together in a Catholic reform (Good Shepherd) school in 1960s Buffalo, NY. These girls are sent by family (various reasons) away from their normal school, to the Good Shepherd, which is like a prison handled by evil nuns. The six girls are treated badly, being punished either for isolation, emotional abuse, forced labor and suffering harsh conditions.

Mairin— free-spirited daughter of Irish immigrants was committed to keep her safe from her stepfather.
Angela—is raised by her illiterate Irish Catholic grandmother and was sent to the Good Shepard to be reformed. While at the school, she finds herself the victim of a predator.

Helen— is of Chinese descent; when her parents return to China for a couple of weeks; they are caught in the Chinese cultural revolution and are not allowed to leave China. Her time at the Good Shepherd stretches into years.

Odessa—caught up in a police dragnet over a racial incident, found the physical and mental toughness to endure her sentence.
Denise—sentenced for brawling in a foster home, dared to dream of a better life.
Janice—deeply insecure, except when it came to her friend Kay, who would never outgrow her childlike dependency.

Mairin is the lead in this story, as she was spirited and rebellious, always determined to find a way to escape; no matter what punishment she receives. In time, she comes up with a plan for her and her friends to escape. They manage to escape in the school bus, and all six of them find themselves being chased by police; with each of them finding separate ways to escape. Mairin could not find any of them, but she discovers three of them were captured. The story continues with Mairin finding work at a farm, falling in love with Flynn, and having children. Decades later, Mairin sees Angela, and together they try to find the friends they lost during their escape; and they slowly reconnect with some of their friends. They begin to share their stories about something that was so much bigger; as they planned to fight for recognition and healing. Their friendship and bond were great.

Wayward Girls is a harrowing and gripping historical fiction, which covered many serious situations, such as abuse, foster system, racism and pregnancy. Susan Wiggs wrote a powerful story of these young women who were confined to forced labor at a dark institution controlled by nuns. Though this was fiction, it was based on those homes where the children were reformed. Wayward Girls was so very well written by Susan Wiggs.

This book shed so much light on how girls were mistreated and discarded by the Catholic church just because they were poor, a person of color, or not cis-hetro. Loved the elements of romance, friendship and search for justice was a good balance against the depictions of abuse and trauma.

Mairin’s defiant and confident attitude made her so easy to root for and the friendships reminded me a lot of OITNB. All these girls were forced into a shitty situation and stuck together.

Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow Publishers for accessing the E-arc of this novel! I thought this was an informative and hear-wrenching novel that brought some great characters to life, while showcasing the realities of what young women went through in the not-so distant past. It started out really interesting but I felt the second half of the novel sped up suddenly, and it was a bit predictable. Yet, I felt the ending was satisfying and that may be due to my own previous interest in the topic of wayward girls and Irish laundries. This was a great read though, and I will recommend it to readers who may be interested!

In the 1960s, Buffalo, New York, Good Shepherd was the infamous Catholic boarding school for girls committed against their will for perceived behaviors. Susan Wiggs' story begins in 1968 when six young women were sent to Good Shepherd, each for reasons they could not control. Told in two timelines, the women, now adults, recount their stories of abuse and the conditions that see them form a support group of their own. The stories are complex. Based on actual events, it's hard to believe the nuns could mete out punishments so harshly and unfairly. The tale evokes emotions as we follow each of them as they confront their worst nightmares. The story is dark, but an engrossing read. It left me researching the Good Shepherd and the schools like it during that era.

Let me be completely honest—I almost DNF’d this book more than once. For a good chunk of the story, I just wasn’t connecting with what was happening. The pacing felt slow, and I struggled to stay interested in the characters or plot. But the epilogue? That epilogue hooked me. It dropped just enough of a mystery, wrapped in eerie ambiguity, that I had to know how it all tied together. It wasn’t clear at all what the connection was, and that uncertainty kept gnawing at me until I had no choice but to keep reading.

And thank goodness I did. Slowly but surely, I found myself pulled into the chilling atmosphere of this Catholic institution, the growing unease that clung to the walls, and the unraveling fates of the girls trapped within. There’s a creeping dread threaded through the story that eventually consumed me in the best way. What started off as a potential DNF turned into a haunting and thought-provoking read that lingered with me after the final page. I’m genuinely glad I stuck with it—because in the end, I truly enjoyed the tale that unfolded.

"Sometimes you have to look back in order to find your way forward."
"We're stronger than anything that happened to either of us in the past."
"Maybe a life of consequence didn't mean awards and accolades. but simply being a source of true friendship."

I have been reading Susan Wiggs' books for many years....dating back to before The Lakeshore Chronicles series. Wayward Girls is a new direction for Ms. Wiggs. It riveting, recent historical fiction revolving around abuse and corruption in The Catholic Church. "It's a true story about friendship, survival, and redemption when six girls come together in a Catholic reform school in 1960s Buffalo, NY." The characters were true to life and I found myself rooting for each girl escape and find happiness in spite of the horrendous conditions that they were exposed to.

I can not say enough good things about this novel. Ms. Wiggs has outdone herself! Thanks to NetGalley and and William Morrow Publishing for the ARC!

An impressive work of historical fiction that discusses a home for troubled young women in the sixties, Wayward Girls is a story of overcoming hardships and the strength of friendship. I loved the personal story of the strong young woman Mairin and the others she meets at the Good Shepard. This story has a lot of heart and an inspiring message of hope and resilience.