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‘I did an evil thing to be put in here, and I’m going to have
to do an evil thing to get out.’
They call them
wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re
sent to the Wellwood House in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed
mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret,
give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any
of it ever happened.
Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the
home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone.
There, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. Rose, a
hippie who insists she’s going to keep her baby and escape to a
commune. Zinnia, a budding musician who plans to marry her baby’s
father. And Holly, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by
no-one-knows-who.
Every moment of their waking day is
strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for
them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about
witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time
in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and
it’s never given freely. There’s always a price to be paid . . .
and it’s usually paid in blood.
Wellwood House is a home where young, pregnant, unmarried girls are sent to have their babies in secret. The babies are then adopted and the girls go back to their families, as if nothing ever happened.
All of the girls are given new names when they arrive, so fifteen-year-old Neva becomes Fern. At Wellwood House, Fern makes friends with with several of the other girls, and dreams of going back home and resuming her old life.
When Fern is given an unusual book by the visiting librarian, she and her friends find themselves dabbling in witchcraft.
Can magic solve their problems?
Or is the price too high?
The premise of this book intrigued me, especially with it being set in the 1970s.
Neva/Fern was a likeable protagonist. I felt really sorry for her with the way she was shipped off to Wellwood House. I liked the friendships she made with several of the other characters. However, I did feel that, especially compared to some of the other characters, that Neva/Fern didn't really have much personality.
The plot was good overall, but the pacing did feel off at times. Not much really happened plot-wise, and towards the end it did feel like the book was dragging a little. There were some creepy and quite traumatic scenes that happened, some relating to birth.
While this didn't end up being quite what I expected, there were elements that I liked.
Overall, this was an enjoyable read.
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