Dee had just opened her mouth to say something when the intercom in the hall sputtered: "Mary Louise, Mary Louise, please come to the office."In 1954, nice girls kept their virtue intact. If they didn’t and got pregnant, their families and society at large could be cruel. At Booth Memorial Hospital, run by the Salvation Army for pregnant women who need a safe haven, Mary makes friends with Dee, a black girl from Des Moines who is determined to get Richie, the father of her baby, to marry her. Too bad Richie’s engagement ring is on the finger of Dee’s sister. Mary, pregnant with Kenny’s child, loves her baby and her baby’s father; but knowing that Kenny is not faithful to her, she refuses to marry him. Ruby, a slightly older woman, is married to the head of the Iowa mob, has a young daughter, and is pregnant by another man. The Salvation Army officers who run the Booth home and hospital are all good woman, except for one who is not what she seems.
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1 comment:
It sounds like there is so much going on at the Salvation Army home for pregnant girls! I actually knew someone who was "sent away to live with an aunt" in the 1980s. It seemed so strange to me that the family would pretend she wasn't pregnant.
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