Wayward Girls
Set in the 1960s, this engaging novel tells the story of six girls committed to the Sisters of the Good Shepherd in Buffalo, New York. It is a tale of friendship, survival, and ultimately, redemption. Loosely based on the true stories of girls and young women sent to Good Shepherd by the courts or their families—because they were unwed, orphans, victims of abuse or neglect, or simply because their behavior didn’t conform to unforgiving societal norms—this book reveals the harsh reality they faced. Once committed, their lives became a living hell, subjected to horrific sexual, physical, and emotional abuse by the very people who were supposed to care for them. Wayward Girls goes further by showing these girls, now women, reclaiming their voices years later and coming together to seek justice through the legal system for the wrongs committed against them.
Wayward Girls offers a glimpse into the lives of the most powerless among us: “throwaway” girls, forced to labor in the Magdalene Laundries—the principal operation of Good Shepherd—washing bedding and clothes for people who never questioned who was doing the work. An estimated sixteen thousand girls passed through Good Shepherd from the 1880s until its closure in the late 1960s.
There have been no successful legal challenges against Good Shepherd to date, and the Buffalo Diocese has recently filed for bankruptcy amid a $150 million settlement with clergy sexual abuse victims. Still, the victims of Good Shepherd and their lawyers continue to raise their voices and demand justice for the terrible abuses they endured. In the way only good fiction can, Wayward Girls helps amplify these voices and their journey.
