Where the Girls Were Audiobook By Kate Schatz cover art

Where the Girls Were

A Novel

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They were sent away to be forgotten. This is their story.

In this electrifying historical novel about coming of age in tumultuous 1960s San Francisco, a pregnant teenager reckons with womanhood and agency after being sent to a home for unwed mothers.

"Thrilling, propulsive, breathless, and brimming with a deep understanding of longing and frailty . . . of humanness.”—Catherine Newman, New York Times bestselling author of Sandwich and Wreck

It’s 1968, and the future is bright for seventeen-year-old Elizabeth “Baker” Phillips: She’s the valedictorian of her high school, with a place at Stanford in the fall and big dreams of becoming a journalist. But the seductive free-spirited San Francisco atmosphere seeps into her carefully planned, strait-laced life in the form of a hippie named Wiley. At first, letting loose and letting herself fall in love for the first time feels incredible. But then, everything changes.

Pregnancy hits Baker with the force of whiplash—in the blink of an eye, she goes from good girl to fallen woman, from her family’s shining star to their embarrassing secret. Without any other options, Baker is sent to a home for unwed mothers, and finds herself trapped in an old Victorian house packed with pregnant girls who share her shame and fear. As she grapples with her changing body, lack of choice, and uncertain future, Baker finds unexpected community and empowerment among the “girls who went away.”

Where the Girls Were is a timely unearthing of a little-known moment in American history, when the sexual revolution and feminist movement collided with the limits of reproductive rights—and society's expectations of women. As Baker finds her strength and her voice, she shows us how to step into your power, even when the world is determined to keep you silent. 20th Century Historical Fiction Women's Fiction Pregnancy San Francisco
All stars
Most relevant
...weather-related, era related. This woman in a scholar (i.e., she should know how to research) and a Bay Area native, who, I don't know, maybe has never been beyond her front door? According to her acknowledgements about 8 zillion people read her book before it was published, including a professional editor. So why, why, why were there so many inaccuracies? As a woman born (1962) and raised in San Francisco, Oakland, and surrounding suburbs I found this annoying beyond belief.

If I had an electronic copy, I'd find them all and list them just because they were so egregious.

As for the story itself...I would have given it 2 stars (it was ok) if not for bumping up against a bunch of inaccurate garbage. It was very slow, I didn't find the characters very interesting or engaging. If you aren't a Bay Area native, don't care that the language doesn't fit the era in far too many cases, don't mind "slow," enjoy historical novels--though even there, I felt like Baker (the FMC) was too ignorant. I knew more at age 12 in 1974 (as did all my friends) than Baker did at 17 in 1968. At any rate, I'd check it out from the library rather than use a credit.

Great audio narration.

So many inaccuracies--geographic, linguistic...

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