Welcome back! It’s the 27th week of First Sentence Friday and Free Book Friday! (It’s hard to believe there are only EIGHT more weeks of First Sentence Fridays/Free Book Friday.) 

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About Women of a Promiscuous Nature

“Both a cautionary tale and a deeply compassionate rendering of women wrongly imprisoned in a system designed to break them, Everhart’s propulsive story is filled with injustice, intrigue, and the determination to fight back.” —LISA WINGATE, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Shelterwood

Accused of “promiscuity” in 1940s North Carolina, a young woman unjustly incarcerated and subjected to involuntary medical treatment at The State Industrial Farm Colony for Women decides to fight back in this powerful, shockingly timely novel based on the long-buried history of the American Plan, the government program designed to regulate women’s bodies and sexuality throughout the first half of the 20th century.

The day Ruth Foster’s life changes begins the same way as many others—with a walk through her North Carolina hometown toward the diner where she works. But on this day, Ruth is stopped by the local sheriff, who insists that she accompany him to a health clinic. Women like Ruth—young, unmarried, living alone—must undergo testing in order to preserve decency and prevent the spread of sexual disease.

Though Ruth has never shared more than a chaste kiss with a man, by day’s end she is one of dozens of women held at the State Industrial Farm Colony for Women. Some, like 15-year-old Stella Temple, are brought in at their family’s request. For Stella, even the Colony’s hardships seem like a respite from her nightmarish home life.

Superintendent Dorothy Baker, convinced that she’s transforming degenerate souls into upstanding members of society, oversees the women’s medical treatment and “training” until they’re deemed ready for parole. Sooner or later, everyone at the Colony learns to abide by Mrs. Baker’s rule book or face the consequences—solitary confinement, grueling work assignments, and worse.

But some refuse to be cowed. Against Mrs. Baker’s dogged efforts and the punishing weight of authority, Ruth and other inmates find ways to fight back, resolved to regain their freedom at any cost . . .

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Chapter 27 – First Sentence Friday Thoughts

This week we dive into some dark material.

By now, from what you’ve learned so far about this novel, maybe it comes as no surprise such things as a meditation room and group punishment existed within the confines of institutions like Samarcand Manor and the State Industrial Farm Colony for Women. As a writer of historical fiction, I have the ability to create/make-up the story as well as ensuring I stick to the important historical data.

For the history within the story, the term group punishment wasn’t an “official” name. I came up with it after reading about girls at Samarcand who would assist in the punishment of one of their peers. It reflects well what took place. Those selected to participate were the ones who violated some rule already and needed a reminder of what could happen to them and that reminder was to have them hold down the girl being punished, that is, if one of the staff didn’t whip the individual. This was supposed to be a deterrent, and that’s how it’s reflected in the novel.

Below is a page/paragraph from Bad Girls at Samarcand (Karen Zipf) The highlighted area describes what one young girl experienced. Because of the way it scanned, (blurred words toward the spine) I’ll type it here: “May complained that she had served four months in a confinement room and endured five whippings while at Samarcand, twice by the other girls at the consent of a staff member. On one occasion, thirteen girls whipped her with their hands and a hair brush. On another occasion, May reported, she was whipped with some kind of plaited reed or lash. She showed her parents bruises on her hips, her back and marks on her legs. She later complained that staff had whipped her for confiding to her parents.”

You’ll notice she also mentions a “confinement room.”

It was known by many things in the various facilities, but in the book, The Trials of Nina McCall, (Scott Stern) “meditation room” was used. After all, that sounds a LOT better, doesn’t it? Equally horrifying and perhaps worse, is the history from The Trials of Nina McCall, Sex, Surveillance, and the Decades-Long Government Plan to Imprison “Promiscuous” Women (Scott Stern). Below is one of the many examples of horrific abuse committed against women. Here is where “meditation” room comes into existence as does the barbaric reform efforts used in a detention hospital in Bedford, NY.

The top paragraph in yellow points out a medieval type of torture that involves handcuffs and suspension from a ceiling grate. The second paragraph talks about flogging, what I think is an appropriate term because let’s face it, that’s what it was. It goes on to talk about the “limited diet,” the “meditation rooms, cold water baths,” and the cruelty and injustices go on.

That will be a point I make when I talk about this book at events. That while it is fiction used to convey what took place, so much of it was REAL, IS real – even today.

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Chapter 27

Stella

In the days following group punishment, Stella’s movements are slow and pained.

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Question of the Week

Something happened in school when I was growing up that, if it happened today, someone would possibly be sent to jail. I had a teacher in fourth grade, and her name was Mrs. Shinsky. She became frustrated with a student, Robert, and pinched the bridge of his nose so hard, her fingernail dug in and created a bright red crescent mark. He screamed, and she sent us out of the classroom. Later, when Robert came out to the playground, he wore a bandaid across his nose and he was very subdued. Don’t I wish I knew what happened after we were sent outside for an unexpected recess? Don’t I wish I’d told my mother?!?!? I didn’t. I can’t explain why.

Children keep secrets and I think while adults/parents today attempt to make them aware of right/wrong by adults, they still tend keep quiet under certain conditions/circumstances.

As a child, did something ever happen to you or another child you knew, and you didn’t tell your parents? Why do you think you didn’t you tell them? Was it possible you believed what happened to May might have happened to you?

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PRE-ORDER Information

Pre-orders gauge the interest and signal to the publisher readers are eager for an author’s next work. If you’re holding out because you might win an ARC or a finished copy from First Sentence Friday, remember you can always give away the extra as a gift to a reader friend. 😉

Pre-order links for your convenience:

• Bookshop.org
• Kensington Publishing Corporation
• Barnes & Noble
• Books-A-Million
• Amazon
• Hudson Booksellers
• Target
• Walmart

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Social Media

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