| Title | : | The Last Carolina Girl |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1728257158 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781728257150 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 304 |
| Publication | : | First published March 28, 2023 |
A searing book club novel for fans of Where the Crawdads Sing and The Girls in the Stilt House following one girl fighting for her family, her body, and her right to create a future all her own
Some folks will do anything to control the wild spirit of a Carolina girl...
For fourteen-year-old Leah Payne, life in her beloved coastal Carolina town is as simple as it is free. Devoted to her lumberjack father and running through the wilds where the forest meets the shore, Leah’s country life is as natural as the Loblolly pines that rise to greet the Southern sky.
When an accident takes her father’s life, Leah is wrenched from her small community and cast into a family of strangers with a terrible secret. Separated from her only home, Leah is kept apart from the family and forced to act as a helpmate for the well-to-do household. When a moment of violence and prejudice thrusts Leah into the center of the state’s shameful darkness, she must fight for her own future against a world that doesn’t always value the wild spirit of a Carolina girl.
Set in 1935 against the very real backdrop of a recently formed state eugenics board, The Last Carolina Girl is a powerful and heart-wrenching story of fierce strength, forgotten history, autonomy, and the places and people we ultimately call home.
The Last Carolina Girl Reviews
-
This is being compared to
Where the Crawdads Sing, which I don't think is fair, because in my opinion, it's a much better book. I spent years ashamed of growing up in the American South, but lately, I find myself reminiscing for slower days and hot summer nights. There are many things I don't miss, such as the politics and ever present megachurches, but I'll take a win where I can.
I listened to this one on audio. I'm not familiar with the drawling Carolina accent, but another reviewer said it was spot on. I'll have to take their word for it. Like
Tina says, go into this one blind. The blurb gives a little bit away, but trust that I am horrified by the state of things in 1935. Not that they appear much better today. We must look to our past to make better choices for our future.
Teen Leah lives a poor but happy existence in coastal Carolina, until one day her father passes away. She wishes to remain in her own home, but obviously the government doesn't allow this. She is shipped off to a foster family and forced into a helpmate role, which is basically slave/indentured work. She is not allowed to go to school.
Shit hits the fan at about 80%. I won't say I was terribly surprised, as we have seen many twists like this before. However, this is not a thriller, but a coming of age story for a girl deemed dimwitted by people that shouldn't be judging. Certainly not for everyone, but definitely a gripping story. I'm glad I read it in the heat of summer. It really sets the mood.
🎧 Thank you to NetGalley and Recorded Books -
Actual Rating 3.5
Leah lives on the North Carolina coast. It’s the 1930s, and she lives alone with her father who is a lumberjack. She’s always loved the ocean and the nature of the area. Her dream is to live on the beach, collecting shells and exploring the land. But when a tragic accident occurs, Leah finds herself and her future uprooted. Forced to live with strangers, she learns that not everyone will like her free-spirited ways, and that sometimes, secrets have a way of ruining lives.
This was a good work of historical fiction. While the characters were all good, Leah was really the only one with much development and growth. The secondary characters all felt a bit like they just existed to support or antagonize Leah rather than as real people. This made the work a little difficult to immerse myself in and it was also difficult to really feel much in relation to the characters.
I wasn’t expecting the plot to go where it did during the last fifth of the work. The subplot included was fascinating, but I wanted it to be a bit more fleshed out. A little more buildup to it would have gone a long way, rather than so much time spent focused on her struggles at the strangers’ home. Or even weaving more hints and details about it into the plot and the characters’ lives would have made it much more impactful. More details surrounding the resolution would have made for a more satisfying ending as well. Most of the read focuses on difficult and heartbreaking things that happen to Leah, so I felt like Leah and the reader deserved to have more from the ending/resolution.
Overall, this was a good work of historical fiction that tackled some tough topics and had a surprising subplot. It wasn’t as strong or emotional as I hoped, but it was enjoyable overall. My thanks to NetGalley and RB Media for allowing me to read this book. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own. -
Leah Payne and her father Harley live in Brunswick County, NC, and her dad works as a lumberjack. They live in a little shack on Mr. Barna’s property, she’s friends with his son Jesse and maid Tulla. Leah loves the beach and the ocean and when she grows up she wants to build a house on the coastline. Leah’s devastated when her father is killed in a logging accident, and she’s being sent away to live with a foster family. This means leaving behind everything she has ever known, Jesse, Tulla, the remains of their home and her parent’s graves.
Leah is taken to Matthews, North Carolina, it’s nowhere near the ocean and she’s staying with the Griffin family. Leah feels like a fish out of water, Mrs. Griffin is a nasty woman, Leah though she would be part of a family and instead she’s a maid and nothing she does is right!
Mrs. Griffin likes to entertain, it makes Leah nervous and everything has to be absolutely perfect. Doctor Foster is a visitor at the house, he talks about something called genetics and it makes Leah feel uncomfortable and confused. Mrs. Griffin has a vendetta against Leah, she discovers she has blank spells and she’s just waiting for the right time to put her plans into action.
I received a copy of The Last Carolina Girl by Meagan Church from Edelweiss and Sourcebooks in exchange for an honest review. The author came across the controversial medical practice carried out by the state’s eugenics board in the 1930’s and by delving into her family history. Based on an idealism of improving the genetic quality of a population and after a brief medical diagnosis, young women’s lives were changed and in a cruel way.
Leah’s story is one of profound loss, firstly her father and home, her bond with nature and the beach, she wasn’t allowed to attend school and they tricked her into having surgery. A tender and heartbreaking coming of age story, the plot is full of twists and turns that I didn't see coming and a stunning family secret is revealed. Four stars from me, perfect choice for fans of The Girls in the Stilt House, The Last Carolina Girl has a similar theme and pace. -
Great story
What a lovely though sad story of jealousy and how hate can ruin what could have been a beautiful. love filled relationship.
Leah Payne, is the young fourteen year old protagonist who lives in a small town in the Carolinas. She loves everything about her town, the water, the simple life, her beloved father, and her very good friend, Jesse. Leah's life changes when her dead is killed by a freak accident and being that Leah's mother died giving birth t her, Leah is now an orphan. For a time she is taken in by Jesse's family, and life goes on. However, Leah is being ado[ted by a well off family with children of their own. The children are kind to Leah, but the mother of the family is beastly using Leah as a helpmate (aka slave) and treated her with disdain. Poor Leah would love to go back home and dreams of that as her future. She arranges to see Jesse when a fair comes to town and the two of them make plans. It does for a time come to nought, and the mother afraid of Leah's inferiority pursues the topic of eugenics, and poor Leah is made to suffer more.
This poor girl longs for the simple life with Jesse by her side, but the days seem dark ahead for Leah. She needs a miracle of sorts and as that book continues that is what the reader will wish for her.
Thank you to Megan Church, RB Media, Narrated by Susan Bennett. and NetGalley for the ability to listen to this story. -
How much can a young girl take?
Leah lost her mother and lived with her father. They were very close and very poor, but then he was killed in a logging accident.
She was sent to live with a family that Leah thought would be her new family, but it was not the case.
Leah was treated like a servant and called the helpmate.
It got worse as time wore on and then she heard Mrs. Griffin talking to a doctor about eugenics and forced sterilization.
THE LAST CAROLINA GIRL is very well written and well researched but heartbreaking to see how Leah was treated when all she wanted was a family of her own.
Fans of Southern fiction will devour this book and want to take Leah into their home to keep her from the treatment she received.
A beautiful, thoughtful read that requires tissues...It has been compared to WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING and NECESSARY LIES.
A book you don’t want to miss. 5/5
This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review. -
The Last Carolina Girl by Meagan Church. Such a sad but sweet novel. Leads me to think this that loved Where the Crawdad’s Sing would really love this book!
A young lady becomes an orphan. She goes to live with a family temporarily. Then the family betrays her. Sends her to live with an Aunt she never knew existed. She was taken advantage of. Used and abused. All she wants is to escape back home or go live on the beach at the ocean. -
Have you ever been truly sorry you read something? I really did not care for this book, and for the way its made me feel after having experienced it. I took a shower trying to shake it off. Its going to be a rough day with this lurking in my consciousness. That poor girl, and the darkness in some people. Ugh. I would not have finished it unless I needed it to help my team in a challenge. At least its off my TBR. I could really use something uplifting. I will count on the day to raise me. Despite the New England Rain, I will find joy and love, and it is desperately needed.
-
This book was not what I expected. I picked it up because the author is a North Carolina author and I like to read stories about my home state. I kind of expected something light from the title, but this book was nothing like that.
Leah's story is heart-breaking and traumatic. She lost her mother when she was born. Her Dad died when she was fourteen. They had been living at Holden Beach. When Leah was left on her own she was take to live with a family in Matthews, North Carolina. She thought she would be part of the family, but that was not the case. The events that happened to Leah were tragic and scarred her for life.
This is a coming of age story, but it also explores a dark spot in American history that should never have happened. I can't imagine how the women would feel when it happened to them. Leah was strong and courageous throughout. She tried her best to maintain her sense of self, and I admired that about her.
Thanks to SOURCEBOOKS Landmark through Netgalley for an advance copy. This book will be published on March 7, 2023. -
Leah loves trips to the sea with her father and their home in the North Carolina woods. After her father dies, she is torn from this home and the only people she loves. Leah is indomitable and she needs to be as she struggles to be accepted and find a home.
Author Megan Church tells a heartbreaking story of the injustice served to thousands of people in 20th century America for “the betterment of society.” -Stacy M. -
This is a beautiful, but tragic and heartrending story. In a tale almost as old as time, an orphan girl must learn to make her way in a harsh world while dreaming of home and wishing for a better life. Set in North Carolina in 1935, during a time of forced sterilizations and the creation of eugenics programs, this book demonstrates how detrimental and wrong a civilized society can be.
I think that the character development in this book was very well done. I felt so sad for 14-year-old Leah and how her life was affected by the lack of love and guidance she needed so much and how her entire future was directed by people who considered themselves to be well-meaning and doing the "right" thing. Though this book is unlike "Where the Crawdads Sing" in many ways, I believe that fans of this type of southern fiction will enjoy this book immensely.
My sincere thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for giving me the opportunity to read a digital ARC of this book. Publication date: March 7, 2023. -
The Last Carolina Girl is a moving story of a young girl, Leah, living with her beloved father near Holden Beach, NC. They are quite poor and their home is a one-room shack, but they are very happy. Leah has a dream of living in a house right on the water in Holden Beach, which her teacher says is “not realistic.” She also has what she calls “flashes,” which are short periods of time when she freezes almost like a statue before coming back to reality. But she lives a beautiful life with her father and cherished friends. When tragedy suddenly strikes, she finds herself serving a coldhearted family as a “helpmate,” or basically a maid.
This is a well-written novel, which at the core of it exposes the way the poor were exploited and used by the rich back in the early 20th Century. The rich have always had power, but back then they could pretty much do whatever they wanted, body and soul, to a person. As Leah says, “…the ghosts of the real world were scarier than the imagined ones.” Based on a true story from within the author’s own family, this novel will shock, anger, and break the heart. But the beautiful imagery of the North Carolina coast and the love of true family also shines through.
I read both the ebook and audiobook versions. The audiobook is narrated by Susan Bennett, who does a great job. The Southern accents are true to the area and not overdone. The emotion of the book is well conveyed.
I received a free ebook from Sourcebooks and a free audiobook from RB Media. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.
My rating is 4.5 stars, rounded to 5 on sites with no half-star option.
The Last Carolina Girl will be released on March 28, 2023. -
Right from the start, I loved Leah and Maeve, her cat, “two strays without a place to call home.” THE LAST CAROLINA GIRL is a simple story and yet a heartbreaking one of a young girl who faces unimaginable obstacles in her short life. Hope is written on every page, for despite her heartaches and losses, she never gives up. She just wants to go home.
Meagan Church has written a thought-provoking and unforgettable book. Every character is strong and well-developed, and she easily conveys the thoughts of a young girl. The ending is delicately foreshadowed throughout the story, and the reader can’t help but want to rush to Leah’s side and rescue her.
This work of fiction gave me a historical insight that I had somehow missed. I had never heard of the American eugenics movement, a plan begun in the early 1900’s to remove those who were genetically defective by breeding out undesirable traits. THE LAST CAROLINA GIRL is an intense read that reveals a blunt and cruel reality of our past. This story is hard-hitting, but the silver lining revealed is the toughness of human spirit that always rises in those who refuse to lose heart. -
The Last Carolina Girl by Meagan Church is a very well-researched piece of historical fiction that you won't want to miss. It will publish with Sourcebooks Landmark on March 7, 2023. Fans of Where the Crawdads Sing and Necessary Lies will adore this touching story. This story also has a very personal connection to me, and I'll explain that later in this post.
Part literary fiction, part coming-of-age story, it includes some very heavy themes of poverty, loss, and grief, but also themes of family and friendship. The Last Carolina Girl is a thought-provoking story of growing up in the South, finding one's place in life, and standing up for what is right and just. The atmospheric details of place and descriptive text used by Church allow readers to be transported back to Leah's life in 1935 North Carolina. Leah's brave spirit to continue on, even when faced with obstacles and adversity that seemed insurmountable is commendable and also so very encouraging. Most heartbreaking for me is that all Leah ever wanted after losing her mother at a young age and then her father at the tender age of 14 was to feel belonging and love, but unfortunately the system truly failed her in that respect. This story deals with the truly horrifying subject of forced sterilization. Reading about Leah's experience left me feeling angry and so very sad that so many people did not get a choice about their future, and the choice was unfairly and cruelly made for them.
The story was even more heart breaking for me personally knowing that the story is based on what actually happened to my dear great-aunt Virginia, who was sterilized by the state of Indiana around the age of 12, after being sent to an institution and labeled "feebleminded". It was all so tragic and unnecessary. In the author's note at the back, we find out that this story was inspired by the author's Aunt Virginia, the very same sweet, loving woman I called Aunt Virginia. You see, Virginia was sent to live with a foster family at a very young age in 1919. The family she came to live with was my maternal grandmother's family, on a family farm which is located less than 1 mile down the road from my home. My grandmother remained close with Virginia throughout their lives, and actually helped Virginia locate her biological mother and a sibling much later in her life. I firmly agree with the author's description of Aunt Virginia in the author's note. I have such fond members of Virginia and her kind, gentle spirit and loving demeanor. I did not know about her story until after she passed away at the age of 92. I cherish the memories I have of sweet Aunt Virginia, and I'm truly thankful to Meagan for the way she brought Virginia's story to life a bit through a brave, kind-hearted girl named Leah. While reading the story, all I wanted to do was embrace Leah and tell her that she is so very loved. -
https://wendyreadit.wordpress.com/202...
I started listening to this story and immediately got involved in Leah's family and her life by the sea in North Carolina, 1935. My heart started racing and my anxiety level rose in anticipation of what was coming for Leah who is fourteen. As the days and months progressed, my heart hurt, this story is just brutal. It's not the story of out and out physical abuse as much as it is emotionally draining when you think about the darkness in some people's hearts and how their personal sadness affects innocent people and alters the course of their lives. The narration is well done and it's hard to take breaks while listening to Leah's story. #netgalley Mar 2023 Pub Date. -
3.5 rounded up. I don't read a lot of stories about state eugenics and the laws and boards enacted for them. There's little I know about this dark history. I like stories that shine a light on ugly parts of history because it helps us learn from it and, hopefully, keep us from repeating it.
Leah was a very sad character. Left alone with her father for years, they live in a small shack on the grounds of the home he helps maintain. Leah goes to school and has friends and, while life is still a struggle, she loves her home and her father and the family they tend land for. But after a tragedy, Leah is sent away to another home, one not as accepting or loving as her first one.
This story had many shocking parts. It's a fast read, maybe a little short, but it definitely packed a punch. I never quite knew where the story was going so each twist was a new shock for me. I loved the notes at the end from the author with statistics and the sad information that we learned nothing and are still forcing this on many. So glad I gave this one a try, I really liked this one!
A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book. -
The Last Carolina Girl reminded me of Where the Crawdad Sings in many ways. Leah, an orphaned girl from a poor, rural North Carolina finds herself living in Matthews, NC, and serving as a "help mate" to Mrs. Griffin, her new guardian.
Mrs. Griffin is a nasty piece of work. She's emotionally abusive, insecure, and secretive. Mr. Griffin is a clueless doormat. When the topic of eugenics creeps into the book, the reader gets very nervous, and with good reason.
Leah is a sweet, loving child faced with impossible circumstances. I was very invested in her story and heartbroken by all the terrible things that happen to her. I wish I had walked away feeling more hopeful for her and with a sense that The Griffins would be held accountable for what they did to her. Still, I think the author wanted to make it clear how many individuals were forced to endure this unjust and warped procedure because they had no one to defend them. It's a powerful message, and I'd recommend reading the author's note before starting the book. -
I really loved the beginning of this book. Everything about it, her dad, Jesse, the setting, her house… it was all so charming and special. But after she moved it just all went downhill. I didn’t love where the story went and the writing seemed to be a bit scattered and like the book didn’t even know what direction to go in. Disappointing, especially because the beginning was so great.
-
It's only May and my list of favorites are piling up. I adored this book! My heart broke for all Leah went through. If I could have jumped into the story and given her a hug and lots of love, I would have.
-
AUDIOBOOK REVIEW
Leah lives a simple life, and is one with the land in her small, coastal North Carolina town. Leah and her loving, widowed father live in a shack and barely scrape by -- but they have love in spades.
After a tragic accident takes her father's life, Leah is forced to move away to live with a foster family. Though Leah hopes this may be her chance at a real family, she soon learns she's nothing more than the help.
No matter what she does, or how hard she tries, just just can't fit in with this family or the upper class lifestyle, and she's horribly mistreated by the Missus. She yearns for her home and the people she left behind.
*I am being intentionally vague in my blurb as I suggest going in blind*
Thoughts:
I requested the audiobook of The Last Carolina Girl the second I saw Susan Bennet as the narrator. I have long adored listening to Susan perform audiobooks, so I chose this specifically for her.
And I am SO grateful I gave this one a chance. It was like a movie in my ears -- Susan's narration spot on as always! 👏🏻
This was heartbreaking, moving, thoughtful... what a book!! It's a story of loss, grief, love, forgotten history,, and what it means to be home. It's based in part on actual events from the 1930s.
This gave me a bit of Where the Crawdads Sing vibes. Very highly recommend!
Thank you NetGalley and Recorded Books for the ALC. This was such a pleasure to listen to ❤️ -
Well, that was a disappointment. I can’t quite bring myself to give it one star simply because there was potential there, and the writing is not terrible. Once again, I am baffled by all the praise heaped on a book that is merely very average
I keep waiting for somebody to do justice to a story about eugenics in the early part of the 20th century, especially in the south. And I keep getting disappointed. Either the authors think it is strictly a race issue — which it was not — or they just can’t seem to find a plot that works. In this case, I felt like I was reading cuttings from edits of two previously published books, set in the same time and place.
The most disappointing parts of this book for me were that the characters barely were developed, and then none of the characters’ conflicts or motivations were believable. I found myself often muttering, “That doesn’t even make sense. What’s the point of that?“
understand that the story is loosely inspired by the history of a family relative. I get that as I had several relatives who fell victim to the eugenics program in North Carolina. So I understand the desire to want to bring some knowledge of what happened under that program into the light. Perhaps she should have simply told the real story of her great aunt .
No matter how good the inspiration for the story, you still have to have the elements of character, plot, motivation, and the story needs to be believable. -
Well, I’m almost in tears 😭 This book. I’m so glad I got it and read it when I did. It’s just so beautiful and broke my heart at the same time. In some ways, it reminded me of Amanda Dykes’ “Set the Stars Alight”, which is one of my favorite books. TLCG is definitely one of my new top favorite books hands down, so please do yourself a favor a read it 🥺
-
I feel very conflicted about this book. It’s an interesting historical fiction about the 1935 eugenics board which I knew nothing about. The writing quality was good and it kept me interested the whole time. I had a hard time putting it down. However, the ending felt so abrupt! I felt like the last few chapters should have been the mid-point of the novel and everything crammed in the last few pages of the epilogue needed to be fleshed out more. It was like the whole novel was a slow build to one event and then it happened and the book was over without getting to see how it affects the main character.
-
3.5 ⭐️s This story is sad and made my blood boil for the FMC Leah! The fact that this story was based off of events that happened to real people was even more infuriating. The extreme measures that society took back in that time because someone did not fit into their “perfect or ideal” world is disgusting.
-
The Last Carolina Girl by Meagan Church. Thanks to @sourcebooks and @netgalley for the gifted Arc ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Leah loves running wild with nature while her dad works as a lumberjack at her coastal Carolina town. When an accident takes her father, she goes to live with a family of strangers. Thinking she will have a new family, she is dismayed to find she will be only their helper.
This was a great coming of age story where you feel for the main character so much. Sometimes reading about innocent characters going through a hard time is a difficult read, and this certainly was. It was very frustrating to read at time. Especially knowing that it was set against a true environment and horrible time in our past. It’s not a happy story but it’s an important one.
“Sometimes tears are the only words worth sharing.”
The Last Carolina Girl comes out 2/28. -
This book was beautiful. Heartbreaking, but beautiful.
This book is often compared to
Where the Crawdads Sing. In my opinion, though, this book is the authentic North Carolina version of Where the Crawdads Sing. As someone who has been born and raised in North Carolina, my biggest complaint about Where the Crawdads Sing is how it didn't feel like North Carolina. It felt more like it was based on a loose generalization of the South, and the author just picked North Carolina and threw in a few cities without ever even looking at a map. But enough about that book.
The Last Carolina Girl felt so authentically North Carolina. Leah grows up in Holden Beach, which I absolutely love. The descriptions of the coast, the mannerisms, and the cultural aspects were spot on. I especially loved that the book works in North Carolina's history of eugenics. While that is a dark spot on our state's past, it was a harsh reality for many in that era, and it doesn't get discussed enough.
The story felt like a combination of Where the Crawdads Sing (obviously) and
Anne of Green Gables. Like these two, Leah is a highly introspective character with a fairly traumatic childhood, and so be prepared to feel everything acutely right alongside her.
My only teeny-tiny complaint is that the ending felt a bit rushed. I would have liked a bit more time to settle in with it, and some more explanations.
Overall, I would highly recommend this book.
Content Warnings: With the eugenics conversation, there is talk of hysterectomies, but it is all very subtle and tasteful. Otherwise, aside from maybe a tiny bit of language, the book is clean.
I received a copy of this audiobook from Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own, and I am writing a voluntary review. -
The Last Carolina Girl
By: Meagan Church
Fourteen-year-old Leah Payne’s life is forever changed when her lumberjack father dies. She has lived on a coastal town and grew up in the pines. She has always been a free-spirit.
She thought she would go to a friends to live, but ends up in another community in a well-to-do household. She hopped to be part of a family, but turns out they are wanting a helpmate. She does not want to complain to end up in a group home or orphanage.
The other children enjoy Leah, but the mother is not so welcoming. She treats her horrible and accuses her of things that Leah knows she has not done.
Absolutely heat-wrenching story.
Thank you NetGalley, RB Media and author Meagan Church for this advanced copy. This novel is available March 28, 2023. -
The year is 1935 and Leah lives in NC close to the coast with her dad. She loves all the freedom she has in the outdoors and then tragedy strikes for the second time in her short life.
Leah goes to live with a family close to Charlotte, NC. She believes she is going there to be a part of family but she becomes a helpmate. What secrets does this family hold?? How will Leah get out of this house and return home??
Readers of Southern Fiction will love this debut!! It is well researched and well written!! Have the tissues ready!! -
This book is tragic. Gosh, my heart is broken for young Leah who had everything and then nothing after absolutely everything is taken from her in such a short time and at such a young age. My momma heart almost couldn’t handle this book. It was hard to read, but I loved Leah so much I kept going because I needed her to have a happy ending. Thank you to the author for bringing this tragic time of history to life within this book.
Maeve the cat also had my heart in this book. I’m such a cat lover - that was a special touch.
Thanks for my copy SourceBooks! -
"Sometimes, you gotta love even when it don't make sense."
The Last Carolina Girl is the perfect mixture of bitter and sweet. It's a beautiful story of acceptance and love while not leaving out the pains of rejection, hate, and loss. Very masterfully told.
This book is obviously being compared to Where The Crawdads Sing and I agree with this comparison a lot; there was a strong sense of familiarity as I was reading this book and I often compared Leah's story to Kya's. But while they are similar, there are some very stark differences. For one, I loved how simple and to the point The Last Carolina Girl is. It's a much shorter book and wasn't quite as heavy (topically) as Where The Crawdad's Sing was, but it is still a very emotional story and I highly recommend keeping tissues close.
I also really appreciated the underlying tone of suspense in basic, everyday life. While Where the Crawdads Sing was suspenseful for *other* reasons, The Last Carolina Girl presented suspense in a realistic way that we could relate to. Sending a letter. Riding the Farris Wheel. The things that made Leah's heart race, made my heart race right along with her and I think that's why I cared so deeply for her and her story. I could imagine myself in her shoes and the writing brought her to life with vivid beauty.
"Sometimes, tears are the only words worth sharing."
This book is also very clean. There's no cursing, gore, or explicit content. The trigger warnings include mental/physical abuse at the hands of eugenics and discrimination against the poor, however, these are not described in detail.
Overall, The Last Carolina Girl is a painstakingly heartfelt story that I won't soon be forgetting. I give it an easy 5 stars and recommend it to readers who both loved Where the Crawdads Sing and those who may *think* they would like Where the Crawdads Sing but don't want to encounter all of the extra content of that book.
I received this book for free from NetGalley. All comments and opinions are entirely my own and this review is voluntary. -
The Last Carolina Girl is the story of fourteen-year-old Leah Payne. For Leah, life in her beloved coastal Carolina town is as simple as it is free. Devoted to her lumberjack father and running through the wilds where the forest meets the shore, Leah's country life is as natural as the Loblolly pines that rise to greet the Southern sky.
When an accident takes her father's life, Leah is wrenched from her small community and cast into a family of strangers with a terrible secret. Separated from her only home, Leah is kept apart from the family and forced to act as a helpmate for the well-to-do household. When a moment of violence and prejudice thrusts Leah into the center of the state's shameful darkness, she must fight for her own future against a world that doesn't always value the wild spirit of a Carolina girl.
After the accident, Leah is sent to live with a Foster Family several hours away from the only home she's ever known. Her life takes a drastic turn soon after arriving in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Griffin, who have three children of their own. Instead of being taken in by a kind family, Leah is being placed in a home that expects her to work as an unpaid servant. The family's children take to Leah quickly, but Mrs. Griffin seems to harbor a grudge against young Leah, which she doesn't understand. Secrets and betrayals abound as Leah navigates a life very different from the one she came from.
This book is sad and complex, but it's missing something, and I'm not sure what that is. The characters are well-written, with characters that are realistic. The setting is well-done; the Carolinas are my favorite place on earth and Meagan Church was able to take me back to the Atlantic shore, smelling the sea breezes and seeing in my mind's eye the blowing sea oats on the beach. However, I really feel like the pacing was off. The book focused for quite a while on Leah's childhood, then quickly moved to her position in the Griffin's home, and then the epilogue told of her life in the future. It was just very choppy. However, I still feel that it's a great book and I highly recommend it to those who enjoy historical fiction and learning more about the forced sterilizations that occurred across the United States in the years prior to and post-depression. Net Galley has provided me with an ARC in exchange for a fair review of this book.
