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A Novel
by Julie Kibler
An emotionally raw and resonant story of love, loss, and the enduring power of friendship, following the lives of two young women connected by a home for "fallen girls," and inspired by historical events.
In turn-of-the-20th century Texas, 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. Built in 1903 on the dusty outskirts of Arlington, a remote dot between Dallas and Fort Worth's red-light districts, the progressive home bucks public opinion by offering faith, training, and rehabilitation to prostitutes, addicts, unwed mothers, and "ruined" girls without forcibly separating mothers from children. When Lizzie Bates and Mattie McBride meet there—one sick and abused, but desperately clinging to her young daughter, the other jilted by the beau who fathered her ailing son—they form a friendship that will see them through unbearable loss, heartbreak, difficult choices, and ultimately, diverging paths.
A century later, Cate Sutton, a reclusive university librarian, uncovers the hidden histories of the two troubled women as she stumbles upon the cemetery on the home's former grounds and begins to comb through its archives in her library. Pulled by an indescribable connection, what Cate discovers about their stories leads her to confront her own heartbreaking past, and to reclaim the life she thought she'd let go forever. With great pathos and powerful emotional resonance, Home for Erring and Outcast Girls explores the dark roads that lead us to ruin, and the paths we take to return to ourselves.
"If Kibler has one theme, it's the formidable resilience of women…Lizzie's story, gruesome and hellish, is at times hard to endure, but it serves as a testament to the awesome power of a mother's love. Yet the true gem turns out to be Mattie, who breaks the Home's chain of dependency to undertake a thrilling journey of self-discovery in Oklahoma City. It's like watching a wild Texas rose, battered by storms, bloom again in the spring." - The New York Times Book Review - Michael Callahan
"Kibler's poignant story effectively captures the raw pain and anger these women experience, but also shows them moving forward and finding support in other women." - Publishers Weekly
"As this novel powerfully illustrates, the terminology has changed but gender discrimination persists." - Kirkus Reviews
"While these characters may not be as captivating to readers as Calling Me Home's unlikely pair of friends, this tale of resilient women has the varied story lines and well-researched historical background to make it a popular book club selection. " - Library Journal
"A world in which young, single mothers had few options—and even fewer advocates—comes to life in Julie Kibler's skilled hands. Based on the history of the Berachah Industrial Home in Arlington, Texas, Home for Erring and Outcast Girls deftly reimagines the wounded women who came seeking a second chance and a sustaining hope. Their lives are raw and heartbreaking, their struggles an answer to a timeless question: Can friendship heal us after the world has broken us?" - Lisa Wingate, author of Before We Were Yours
"Home for Erring and Outcast Girls is a moving tale of friendship and resilience. It is the story of three different women, each of them betrayed and abandoned, and the ways in which they find their way home. Emotional. Raw. Compelling. Julie Kibler writes with skill, compassion, and grace." - Ariel Lawhon, author of I Was Anastasia
"Julie Kibler explores with splendid insight what it's like to feel exiled from the very people you thought would stand by you and for you no matter what, and that sometimes home is not the place where you were raised but rather the place where you found the strength to rise up out of despair. Memorable and surprising and hopeful." - Susan Meissner, bestselling author of The Last Year of the War
This information about Home for Erring and Outcast Girls was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Dori Young
Julie Kibler is the author of Home for Erring and Outcast Girls and the bestselling Calling Me Home, which was an IndieNext List pick, Target Club Pick, and Ladies' Home Journal Book Club Pick, published in fifteen languages.
She has a bachelor's degree in English and journalism and a master's degree in library science and lives with her family, including four rescued dogs and cats, in Texas.
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