Elizabeth '''Baker''' Philips is a fifteen year old girl who just graduated from high school, where she was a succesful student and valedictorian, and she is accepten at Stanford where she will start after the summer. But that summer, the free spirit of San Francisco lures Baker into a parties with her cousin May and a one night stand with a guy named Wiley. And that one night changes her life forever as she is pregnant. Something that was a scandal in the 1968 as an unmarried woman. She tries to arrange an appointment at an underground abortion clinic, but that goes wrong too, and soon her strict socialite mother knows it. Her mother makes up the story to the family, who are attending Bakers's big graduation party, that Baker will be attending a special acceptance program at the Sorbonne university in Paris this summer. In reality, her mother sends her to a home for unwed mothers somewhere to avoid the ''scandal''. The home is an old Victorian building, where there are housed a lot of girls in the same situation as she. She makes a lot of new friends with the girls, but isn't allowed outside because her mother's fear of being found out. The babies of the girls will be adopted to 'lovely families''. Baker is struggling to find meaning at the home, as she feels trapped, and has to accept her changing body and uncertain future. Her roommate is Michelle, a girl who has been in her second pregnancy and is a bit rebellious. But her rebelliousness is good hearted, and when they find out the management of the house is writing in the permanent records of the girls, they come up with a plan..
I truly enjoyed reading this novel. The story is so moving and gripping and with an ending I couldn't predict, and it is also full of unexpected plot twists, which I really liked. The storyline of Baker, who finds herself in a lifechanging problem situation, was very moving. You could question the stupidity of that one night stand, but for Baker, it is just the way it is. Her mother was quite a character, she reminded me a bit of some characters in The Help, I could totally picture her as a woman in true sixties attire who wants to keep up appearances no matter what, and who loves her fundraisers and social events to make good face.
How the home for unwed mothers was potrayed was very different then I expected. I expected another home run by nuns, who where harsh and let the girls work in the laundry. But this was not the case in this novel, as this was a more modern house (except for the house itself which was quite rundown) where the girls didn't have to work but where doing activities like crafts. I really liked how she bonded with the girls there and that they where all so friendly to each other. How the book ended was truly a surprise. I didn't expect that Baker choose this, but I understood it very well, as it still happens that lies are written in medical records these days, which is also still not recognized to this day.
Overall, I truly enjoyed reading this great novel, and I recommend it!
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