Wayward Girls

Wiggs (The Twelve Dogs of Christmas) delivers a heart-wrenching chronicle of abuse and healing in this sweeping novel that spans half a century. Fifteen-year-old Mairin O’Hara’s life in Buffalo, N.Y., falls apart in the summer of 1968, when her older brother, Liam, narrowly saves her from being raped by their alcoholic stepfather. After Liam heads off to fight in Vietnam, Mairin’s mother drops her off at Our Lady of Charity Refuge and Sisters of the Good Shepherd to keep her safe. There, the draconian nuns force the teen girls in their care—many of them pregnant—to work in the laundry. Some girls are at the institution for lack of anywhere else to go, but most were sent as punishment. They are subjected to physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, including rape by the order’s doctor and the forced adoption of their babies. Determined to save her new friends, Mairin hatches an escape plan. Decades later, the women reunite to expose the horrors they suffered. Though the subject matter is heavy, Wiggs weaves in threads of hope in the girls’ acts of defiance, such as hacking off their hair so the nuns can’t pull it, and their determination not to let the experience break them. This one lingers long after the last page. Agent: Meg Ruley, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (July)