A Home for Friendless Women, Kelly E. Hill
A Home for Friendless Women, Kelly E. Hill
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A Home for Friendless Women

Author: Kelly E. Hill

Narrator: Gabra Zackman, Amy Landon, Hope Newhouse, Stacy Gonzalez

Unabridged: 7 hr 44 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/19/2024

Synopsis

In Victorian-era Louisville, the Home for Friendless Women is run by benevolent benefactors with one mission: to reform the fallen women who live there into pious mothers and wives through religious lessons and hard work.

For Ruth, a college student who’s expelled after a campus sexual assault, the Home is a purgatory to endure before she can get her life back. For Belle, a queer sex worker who exchanged her bed at a brothel for one in the Home, it’s a safe place to rest her feet until she can track down her missing lover. And for Minnie, the daughter of the religious couple who founded the charity, the Home is her mother’s idea of a cautionary tale.

But as Minnie prepares for the Home’s silver anniversary party, she finds herself questioning the true cost of good intentions—and grappling with a terrible secret that has the power to unravel the Home entirely.

About The Author

Kelly E. Hill has a PhD from the University of Louisville and an MFA in fiction from Spalding University. She lives in Louisville with her family. A Home for Friendless Women is her first novel.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Elisia

I would give ten stars if I could. Oh wait… ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️......more

Goodreads review by V ❣️

This is an extremely well researched novel about a home in Kentucky for women who become pregnant and therefore, “unchristian like.” We follow three women; Ruth- One of the first to be admitted into the home. Belle- A former sex worker at a local brothel. Minnie- The daughter of one of the women on......more

Goodreads review by Shannon

A great historical fiction debut set in Victorian era Louisville featuring a group of young pregnant women staying in a home for unwed mothers. The author does a wonderful job bringing to life this time period and the limited options women had over their bodies and the huge stigma involved in pregna......more

Goodreads review by Tammy

Very well-written and evocative historical novel. The format was slightly different from the dual-perspective form so popular today wherein 2 protagonists tell the story 50 or 100 years apart. Instead, very effectively, 3 protagonists shared the narrative over 2 decades. Highly recommended.......more

Quotes

“Hill is deliciously unsentimental and humanist in her rendering of these women and their world, resulting in a historical novel that feels both accurate and strikingly modern. A delight from start to finish.”
—Rufi Thorpe, author of The Knockout Queen, a PEN/Faulkner finalist

"With meticulous research and concise writing, Kelly Hill draws us into a world where—as is so often the case—good intentions belie painful shortcomings on both the individual and societal levels. Realized deftly and with an unflinching hand, her character studies entertain and enlighten. A great read on so many levels."
—David Dominé, author of A Dark Room in Glitter Ball City
"Founded in 1876, the Home for Friendless Women in Louisville offered refuge to “fallen” women—those who were pregnant and had no other options. Intrigued by the cryptic historical records, debut author Hill creates a story spanning from 1877 to 1901 and imagines the personalities and circumstances of several of the mothers (“inmates”), such as bluestocking Rose and queer, worldly-wise sex worker Belle, as they pass through the Home. . . .  The memorable characters who emerge from the pages leave little doubt in the reader’s mind that while they may be oppressed, they aren’t fools. . . . Share this with those seeking historical novels that focus on women’s lives and social inequity."
—Booklist

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