The narrator’s voice grabs hold immediately, and what a tale she has to tell! In small-town Georgia in 1960, Doris Steele, a Black seventeen-year-old, had dropped out of school two years ago to care for her family after her Ma got sick. She’s pregnant and can’t support a baby, but the local midwives who perform abortions know her parents, so she turns to her former teacher, Mrs. Lucas, for help. Mrs. Lucas has a rich childhood friend in Atlanta who offers to arrange for the procedure, and what Doris sees there takes this Bible-raised teenager way out of her comfort zone. At Mrs. Sylvia Broussard’s home, Doris hardly knows what to think. Mrs. Broussard wears pants and red lipstick and talks frankly about sex. She’s also an atheist. Mrs. Lucas appears to be a non-believer, too, which Doris can’t fathom; Doris knows she goes to church!

Speaking with honesty and cheeky humor – she crafts witty phrases she jots in a notebook – Doris is irresistibly appealing. She’s not wholly innocent, but not worldly either, and over the course of one whirlwind weekend, she socializes with Mrs. Broussard’s friends (including Coretta Scott King and her cousin Julia, a famous singer) and attends a student workshop on nonviolent activism. With her medical appointment weighing on her mind, Doris gets introduced to a secret community of queer women, and although she’s not gay, she has many curious questions about how that all works. She also starts pondering her relationship with God, who created a more interesting world than she ever realized, and how much she owes to her upbringing versus her own desires. With its well-crafted historical atmosphere that emphasizes Black women’s choices in the Civil Rights-era South and the importance of joyful spaces in a repressive world, this is a winning coming-of-age story full of personality and zing.

Published in the Historical Novels Review, August 2025.

These Heathens is a vibrant, funny, feminist coming-of-age story. This book tells the story of Doris and her journey to claim her autonomy as a black teenager in the 1960’s south. Full of heart and humor, These Heathens is a page-turner that will not leave you disappointed.

Who knew one of my favorite (if not favorite) books of the year would be historical fiction?? Not me!!

These Heathens follows Doris, a seventeen-year-old taking care of her family in 1960s rural Georgia who travels alongside her favorite teacher to Atlanta to get an abortion and finds herself wrapped up in the civil rights movement and the Black queer community.

Doris is such an exciting main character - she is bold- not afraid to question her beliefs as well as others; she is hilarious- her prayers and comments made me laugh out loud; and she is a dreamer- hoping for something more from her life. At 27 years old, I still found myself thinking wow, I want to be like her one day. She learns to not feel guilty about what she wants from life and that, even if she has obligations thrust upon her, it's what she wants most that matters in the end.

The complicated relationships and drama between Mrs. Lucas, Miss Julia, and Mrs. Broussard as queer Black women in the 1960s was beautifully done. I cannot express how much I loved their dynamic. On top of this, the dichotomy between Dexter's nonviolent/upfront and Erik's violent/discreet approach to the civil rights movement was very eye opening not just for Doris but for me as a reader. I felt it was fascinating for the character of Doris to see both sides during her time in Atlanta and to use that knowledge to further her understanding of her place in the world.

I truly am not a fan of historical fiction, so this took me by surprise! Reading about Doris's introduction to not only the Black queer communities of the 1960s but also the civil rights movement from both the violent and nonviolent perspective meant that I just couldn't put it down. When I wasn't reading These Heathens, I was thinking about reading it. Or telling my friends to add it to their TBR lol.

Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC. I am so grateful! 5/5 stars!!

I received this one as an ARC (Thanks Random House & Net Galley!), but I picked the audiobook up through the library.

This book was just fantastic. There was so much: history, adventure, coming-of-age… I love the main character. I could not put this one down!

I’m a huge fan of historical fiction, and I was absolutely blown away by my first book by this author. The story is set in the 1960s and follows the life of 17-year-old Doris, a high school dropout living in a small southern town. After her mom gets sick, Doris has to drop out of school to help raise her siblings and take care of the house.

Doris ends up pregnant but doesn’t want to keep the baby. The book never tells us who the father is, which makes it even more mysterious. Doris decides to get an abortion in Atlanta, where she discovers a whole new world. She meets people who are gay, racist, and sexist, but she also finds people who accept her for who she is.

The book talks about religion a bit, but it’s all part of the story. It’s funny, smart, and really thought provoking. I loved the book and would highly recommend it to anyone who likes historical fiction.

I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an advanced copy of the book. The opinions in this review are my own.

Mia McKenzie packs So Much into this book; it's amazing! She weaves together numerous events and famous (and lesser known) people and groups from the Civil Rights movement alongside her main character, and packs the action into a matter of a few days. Her characters are real and compelling, fascinating and infuriating. Her sense of place is impeccable, and she contrasts 1960s Atlanta and "the rest of Georgia" beautifully. The book felt a bit jarring at times due to the sheer scope of everything McKenzie managed to fit in this book, but for the most part it flows well.

3.5 stars. These Heathens has a lot to offer. Set in 1960 Atlanta, it tells a story that centers Black women and Black queer women when the reality was the exact opposite. This coming of age story brings 17-year old Doris to Atlanta to get an abortion and weaves throughout, with humor, history and commentary about race, gender, class and religion. The things that worked for me about this really did. In particular, I loved how she made SNCC and Julia Avery come alive. There were enough things that felt a bit forced and took me out of the story, especially in the middle, for it to not completely be successful as a reading experience but I look forward to keeping an eye out for other books by this author in the future.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House for an advanced reader’s copy.

These Heathens by Mia McKenzie just might be the best book iI’ve read this year. It is a tale of a whirlwind weekend of Doris, a bright, but sheltered, pregnant teenager and the people she meets when she ventures to Atlanta in search of a solution to her problem.

A moving coming of age story set in 1960s Georgia that sees a young rural Black girl pregnant with a baby she doesn't want and who goes to Atlanta in search of an abortion. While there she meets an older lesbian woman AND Martin Luther King plus finds herself falling in love.

This had a great cast of memorable characters and strong Black women supporting one another and the freedom for women to have control over their own bodies. We need more books like this one in my opinion, now more than ever as women's rights continue to be taken away.

Great on audio narrated by Bahni Turpin and just an overall FANTASTIC read. Highly recommended for fans of books like The girls who grew big. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and @prhaudio for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review.

Book Review

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for an arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

Publication: June 17, 2025

I personally have a hard time when books have a lot of descriptions. It feels like the story becomes bogged down for me as a reader.

This was an unexpectedly enjoyable, although the cover made me think it might not be all that interesting. Others might really like it but for me, it was one of those cases where one should never judge a book by its cover. Because I was absolutely not bored by this book. Doris is the voice of the narrator and main protagonist, who has dutifully swallowed her dreams of going to college, dropping out of school (even though she's the top student) to take care of her family in place of her sick mother. Even as she buries her dreams of becoming a writer deep down to do her duty, it's still a life she can picture--until she accidentally becomes pregnant. Scared, and knowing her parents will make her have the baby, she reaches out to her favorite teacher for help.

Without going too much into detail, she ends up traveling to Atlanta with her teacher and there she learns about women who have found a way to create options where none existed before. As a black girl in the 60s, she has even fewer options than white women, and yet, her weekend in Atlanta opens her eyes to other things.

I thought this book did a good job of introducing one to the civil rights era, to a time when black people had very few rights and opportunities, and black women even less so. As for the queer community, they had to be even more careful, finding persecution in most spaces. While the author didn't dive deeply into all of this, she did a great job of telling this girl's story and helping us to see with her own eyes what she had often been sheltered from in her small town. I loved seeing MLK Jr, Coretta Scott King, Coretta's fictional cousin Julia Avery (popular musician), the SNCC and some of the nonviolent workshops through Doris' eyes.

Overall, I thought this was an excellent novel and I look forward to reading other books by the author.

I received an advance review copy for free from NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book sparked my interest from the Modern Mrs. Darcy's summer reading guide. I thought for sure at the beginning this would be a 5 start read for, however it really lived in the "and space" for me. I enjoyed the character development, the character relationships, the historical aspects of it, however there was a lot that I didn't care for (bodily fluid - puke, one graphic scene near the end). I did listen to a few chapters on audiobook and the narrator is 5 stars, fantastic voice for Doris.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing access to a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Set in 1960s Georgia, Doris finds herself pregnant. She wants an abortion, but given the time and the fact that she’s Black, reliable healthcare is hard to come by. A beloved (former) teacher, Mrs. Lucas, takes her to Atlanta where she has friends willing and able to help.

What initially drew me to the story was the idea of a young, poor Black teenage girl in need of an abortion and how she was going to access that. Given the recent reversal of Roe v Wade, it felt timely - in a different way.

While this was also a very basic introduction to the Civil Rights Movement and queer history (which I can appreciate), what didn’t work so well for me was the amount of convenient plot points to move the story along. Coretta Scott King just happened to be one of the side characters main friends, along with a famous singer from that era. Also, the book took place over the course of one weekend and the amount of things the author covered just felt unrealistic to me.

Overall, this one lacked substance for me. Topics stayed surface level vs a real nuanced look at society’s rules, expectations, and mores of the time. I think there was a general lack of focus - where it felt like the author was throwing the whole kitchen sink at us - and had she picked one topic to really dive into and explore, I believe it would have worked a lot better for me.

In the interest of full disclosure, I received an ARC of These Heathens by Mia McKenzie via NetGalley. Many thanks to Random House for approving my request.

Seventeen year old Doris goes to Atlanta for an abortion and gains a lot of perspective in Mia McKenzie’s novel These Heathens.

Summary

Welcome to rural Georgia in 1960. Doris Steels is a Black seventeen year old from a poor religious family. When her mother falls ill, she drops out of school to help care for her family, but initially has hopes to return. Time passes, and one day Doris discovers that she is pregnant. Doris is not ready to be a parent and is adamant that she wants an abortion.

But when you live in a small community where the only people who can help you with an abortion also know your parents, what do you do? In Doris’ case, she turns to Mrs. Lucas, a former teacher who is originally from Atlanta. Mrs. Lucas has friends and connections in Atlanta, and agrees to take Doris there for the weekend to obtain an abortion.

While waiting for the doctor, Doris meets - and is scandalized by - the people Mrs. Lucas and her friend Sylvia associate with. Over the course of the weekend, Doris meets prominent members of the Civil Rights movement and people who explore same sex relationships.

Doris went into this weekend not completely sure of what she wanted. Can she figure it out by the end of the weekend?

Thoughts

What Happens When You Leave Your Bubble?

The official synopsis of These Heathens talks about how McKenzie’s novel deals with “the transformative power of leaving your bubble, even for just one chaotic weekend.”

This concept was something I thought about as I read These Heathens.
Doris spent her entire life up until this point in one particular bubble that shaped her perspective and her expectations for life. When she had the opportunity to leave - even for a short time - and see a completely different way of life, her perspective changed.

We often talk about how important it is for characters to change over the course of the media that we consume. For Doris, leaving her bubble for the weekend was the catalyst she needed to make a change.

Doris spent most of her life being unable to make decisions about her own life. Often, these decisions were made based on factors outside her control. Let’s face it: being a poor Black person in 1960s Georgia is unfortunately going to put some limitations on what options are available to you. Doris had intersecting factors ranging from her class to her race to her gender that impacted the choices that were available to her.

By making the choice to seek out an abortion, Doris made a very intentional decision that would have an impact on the rest of her life.

In going to Atlanta, she saw some of the other choices she had available to her.

Based On A Real Person

McKenzie based Doris on her grandmother. I love knowing that fact. I think the real Doris would have been an interesting woman to know.

Mia McKenzie’s These Heathens is a powerful coming of age story set against the backdrop of 1960s Georgia, told with humor, heart, and a sharp critique of social and religious norms. The novel follows seventeen-year-old Doris Steele as she makes a secretive trip from her small town to Atlanta to get an abortion. What begins as a desperate act soon becomes a life altering journey, exposing her to a world far more expansive and complicated than she ever imagined.

The story masterfully weaves together personal and political awakenings. Doris’s encounters with civil rights icons, queer communities, and unapologetically bold women highlight the diversity of Black life that is often absent in narratives set during this period. I especially appreciated the nuanced way McKenzie explored how religion can simultaneously provide comfort and constraint. Doris’s inner conflict, shaped by her strict upbringing and the vibrant lives she sees in Atlanta, felt authentic and layered.

The relationship dynamics stood out to me the most, between Doris and her teacher, between old friends like Doris and Sylvia, and among the people who show up in unexpected ways. Each interaction revealed something new, not just about Doris but about the society she’s beginning to question. McKenzie’s inclusion of historical Black figures added another rich layer, reminding readers that personal rebellion and historical resistance often go hand in hand.

I closed this book thinking about how rare and refreshing it is to see a young Black girl at the center of such an honest, rebellious, and affirming story. Doris’s revelations stayed with me, particularly the subtle, sharp way McKenzie examines what happens when belief systems clash with lived experience.

I’ll definitely be reading more from this author. These Heathens is bold, necessary, and beautifully written. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

A gripping, page turning read. The place is rural Georgia and Atlanta; the year is 1960. God fearing Doris travels to Atlanta to get an abortion but learns so much more about the world. Celebrities, queerness, and the civil rights movement become part of her world during the weekend Doris spends in Atlanta. This is a wonderful story of Doris figuring out what she wants from life. A fabulous piece of historical fiction. Thank you NetGalley for providing the ARC.

This book was a pleasant surprise. I was sent an electronic advanced copy by the publisher but I put it to the side. I heard the author on The Stacks podcast and decided to read the book. The novel takes place in Georgia during the Civil Rights movement. Doris, a young pregnant seventeen year old girl desires to end her pregnancy. She turns to a trusted school teacher for assistance. The teacher takes her to Atlanta from their small town of Millen for the procedure. While in Atlanta, Doris experiences people and events beyond what she would have in her small town.

The writing style of the novel is very witty. Doris has great one liners and thoughtful and humorous commentary on life. Even though parts of the novel are humorous, it does explore classism, racism, sexual orientation and women’s rights. Because of the depth of topics contained in the novel, this would make for a good book club discussion.

5⭐

This is going to be one of those shitty reviews where I just can't capture how unique this book was. Compelling from the first page and something I will be thinking about for a long time. Don't let the challenging subject matter scare you away but this is one those books that can't be missed this year.

These Heathens was a truly lovely novel, deftly weaving intersectional lqbtq+ and civil rights in a compulsively readable story. I love when the fall back of religion as a tool and framework of judgement gets unpacked and dismantled, as within this book. Would highly recommend.

The story flowed well and the characters were well developed. I recommend this book and look forward to more from this author.


****Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review****