The Girls with No Names
A Novel
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4.4 • 750 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
INSTANT INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
A beautiful tale of hope, courage, and sisterhood—inspired by the real House of Mercy and the girls confined there for daring to break the rules.
Growing up in New York City in the 1910s, Luella and Effie Tildon realize that even as wealthy young women, their freedoms come with limits. But when the sisters discover a shocking secret about their father, Luella, the brazen elder sister, becomes emboldened to do as she pleases. Her rebellion comes with consequences, and one morning Luella is mysteriously gone.
Effie suspects her father has sent Luella to the House of Mercy and hatches a plan to get herself committed to save her sister. But she made a miscalculation, and with no one to believe her story, Effie’s own escape seems impossible—unless she can trust an enigmatic girl named Mable. As their fates entwine, Mable and Effie must rely on their tenuous friendship to survive.
Home for Unwanted Girls meets The Dollhouse in this atmospheric, heartwarming story that explores not only the historical House of Mercy, but the lives—and secrets—of the girls who stayed there.
“Burdick has spun a cautionary tale of struggle and survival, love and family — and above all, the strength of the heart, no matter how broken.” — New York Times Book Review
“Burdick reveals the perils of being a woman in 1913 and exposes the truths of their varying social circles.” — Chicago Tribune
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Burdick (Girl in the Afternoon) will break hearts with this exquisitely wrought, meticulously researched historical reflection on an American version of the infamous Magdalene laundries of Ireland. In the first years of the 20th century, free-spirited sisters Luella and Effie Tildon live in New York City, near the House of Mercy, a home for wayward girls that is anything but merciful. Effie can't conceive of a time when she and Luella won't be living happily ever after until Luella disappears, setting in motion a devastating series of events. Believing that her sister has been committed by their father to the House of Mercy, Effie hatches a plan to get committed and when she discovers she's wrong, she becomes a prisoner, largely dependent on another resident, Mable. Effie's parents, meanwhile, have no idea where she is, believe she's been kidnapped, and are moving heaven and earth to find her. Told from the alternating points of view of Effie; her mother, Jeanne; and Mable, the narrative combines lush prose with a quick and riveting plot. Readers will be intensely moved by this historical.
Customer Reviews
Haunting and Beautifully Written
Serena Burdick’s The Girls With No Names is a haunting and beautifully crafted historical novel that transports readers to New York City in the early 20th century, a time of rigid social expectations and limited freedoms for women, especially young girls. Inspired by the real-life House of Mercy, a notorious reformatory for “wayward” girls, the book weaves together themes of sisterhood, survival, and the fight for personal agency against a backdrop of systemic oppression.
The story centers on two sisters, Luella and Effie Tildon, who grow up in a wealthy but troubled family near the imposing House of Mercy. Effie, born with a congenital heart defect, is watched over closely by her mother, while Luella is bold and rebellious, yearning for freedom. When the sisters uncover a shocking secret about their father, Luella’s defiance escalates, leading to her sudden disappearance. Convinced her sister has been sent to the House of Mercy, Effie hatches a desperate plan to rescue her by getting herself committed. However, her plan goes awry when she discovers Luella is not there, and she finds herself trapped in the institution’s brutal conditions.
Burdick’s narrative is told from multiple perspectives—Effie, her mother Jean, and a fellow inmate named Mabel—offering a nuanced exploration of women’s experiences across different social classes. Through these voices, the novel exposes the cruelty and hypocrisy of institutions that claimed to reform “wayward” girls but instead subjected them to abuse and neglect. The friendship between Effie and Mabel is a poignant highlight, illustrating how solidarity and compassion can emerge even in the darkest circumstances.
The book is unflinching in its portrayal of the harsh realities faced by young women of the era, including the lack of legal and social rights, the stigma attached to nonconformity, and the devastating consequences of patriarchal control. Burdick’s characters are richly drawn and complex, with no one being entirely good or bad. This complexity allows the novel to reflect the moral ambiguities and tensions of a society on the cusp of change, as the women’s suffrage movement gains momentum in the background.
While some readers may find the pacing slow in parts, the story builds steadily, and the final third of the book is especially gripping, with an ending that is both hopeful and heartbreaking. The novel does not shy away from difficult themes, including child abuse, violence, and loss, so readers should be prepared for challenging material.
Ultimately, The Girls With No Names is a powerful testament to the resilience of women and the bonds of sisterhood—both by blood and by circumstance. It is a story about courage, hope, and the enduring strength of the human spirit, all set against the backdrop of a dark chapter in American history. Readers who enjoy historical fiction with strong, memorable female characters and a keen eye for historical detail will find much to appreciate in this moving and thought-provoking novel.
Worth the read!
It was not what I expected to read in the least, but I’m glad to have finished it anyways!
What a great book
This book was so good it kept my turning page after page! I absolutely adored it