By: Susan Wiggs
ISBN: 9780063118270
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: 07/15/2025
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: TBR
"After decades of bestsellers, Wayward Girls might be Susan Wiggs' opus. A gut-wrenching story of survival, friendship, and justice. Masterful."--Robert Dugoni, New York Times bestselling author of The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell
"The magnificent Susan Wiggs takes a leap into the history of women..a page-turner, replete with mystery and suspense."—Adriana Trigiani, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Left Undone
From New York Times bestselling author Susan Wiggs, a wrenching but life-affirming novel based on a true story of survival, friendship, and redemption. Set in the turbulent Vietnam era in the All-American city of Buffalo, New York, six girls are condemned to forced labor in the laundry of a Catholic reform school.
In 1968 we meet six teens confined at the Good Shepherd—a dark and secretive institution controlled by Sisters of Charity nuns—locked away merely for being gay, pregnant, or simply unruly.
Mairin— free-spirited daughter of Irish immigrants, committed to keep her safe from her stepfather.
Angela—denounced for her attraction to girls, sent to the nuns for reform, but instead found herself the victim of a predator.
Helen—the daughter of intellectuals detained in Communist China, she saw her “temporary” stay at the Good Shepherd stretch into years.
Odessa—caught up in a police dragnet over a racial incident, she found the physical and mental toughness to endure her sentence.
Denise—sentenced for brawling in a foster home, she dared to dream of a better life.
Janice—deeply insecure, she couldn’t decide where her loyalty lay—except when it came to her friend Kay, who would never outgrow her childlike dependency.
Sister Bernadette—rescued from a dreadful childhood, she owed her loyalty to the Sisters of Charity even as her conscience weighed on her.
Wayward Girls is a haunting but thrilling tale of hope, solidarity, and the enduring strength of young women who find the courage to break free and find redemption...and justice.
"Wayward girls is all about the power of female bonds...this isn't just a moment in time—it's a cautionary tale."
—Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of By Any Other Name
Praise
“Wayward Girls is all about the power of female bonds. Yet reading it, I was reminded that it hasn’t been all that long since women had no rights to contraception, sex education, or reproductive rights…and how we seem to be reverting back to a world like that. This isn’t just a moment in time—it’s a cautionary tale.”
— Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author
"After decades of best-sellers, Wayward Girls might be Susan Wiggs opus. A gut-wrenching story of survival, friendship, and justice. Masterful."
— Robert Dugoni, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell
"A stirring read that examines the primal struggle of the spirit to not just survive evil but candidly confront it, buoyed by imperishable courage and hope. Wiggs thoughtfully explores the dynamics of her protagonists’ relationships, deftly defining their successes and failures, their wins and betrayals...”
— Shana Abe, bestselling author of The Second Mrs. Astor
About the Author
#1 New York Times Bestseller Author Susan Wiggs’s novels have appeared in the #1 spot on the New York Times Bestseller List, and have captured readers’ hearts around the globe with translations into more than 20 languages and 30 countries.
Susan Wiggs’s life is all about family, friends…and fiction. She lives at the water’s edge on an island in Puget Sound, and in good weather, she commutes to her writers’ group in a 21-foot motorboat. She’s been featured in the national media, including NPR, PRI, and USA Today, has given programs for the US Embassies in Buenos Aires and Montevideo, and is a popular speaker locally, nationally, internationally, and on the high seas.
From the very start, her writings have illuminated the everyday dramas of ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances. Her books celebrate the power of love, the timeless bonds of family and the fascinating nuances of human nature. Today, she is an international best-selling, award-winning author, with millions of copies of her books in print in numerous countries and languages. According to Publishers Weekly, Wiggs writes with “refreshingly honest emotion,” and the Salem Statesman Journal adds that she is “one of our best observers of stories of the heart [who] knows how to capture emotion on virtually every page of every book.” Booklist characterizes her books as “real and true and unforgettable.”
The author is a former teacher, a Harvard graduate, an avid hiker, an amateur photographer, a good skier and terrible golfer, yet her favorite form of exercise is curling up with a good book. She lives on an island in Puget Sound, where she divides her time between sleeping and waking.
