Lilli de Jong

Library Journal Best Historical Fiction 2017A powerful authentic voice for a generation of women whose struggles were erased from historya heart-smashing debut that completely satisfies.Jamie FordNew York Timesbestselling author ofHotel on the Corner of Bitter and SweetPhiladelphia 1883. Twenty-three-year-old Lilli de Jong is pregnant and aloneabandoned by her lover and banished from her Quaker home. She gives birth at a charity for wronged women planning to give up the baby. But the power of their bond sets her on a completely unexpected path. Unwed mothers in 1883 face staggering prejudice yet Lilli refuses to give up her baby girl. Instead she braves moral condemnation and financial ruin in a quest to keep the two of them alive. Lilli confides this story to her diary as it unfolds taking readers from a charity for unwed mothers to a wealthy familys home and onto the streets of a burgeoning American city. Her story offers a rare and harrowing view into a time when a mothers milk is crucial for infant survival. Written with startling intimacy and compassion this accomplished novel is both a rich historical depiction and a testament to the saving force of a womans love.