"That subsequent book, Where the Girls Were, tells the story of Elizabeth Baker Phillips, a teenager in the late 1960s who gets pregnant. Known by her middle name, Baker finds her straight-A, people-pleasing, rule-conforming identity shattered and the relationship with her mother Rose Phillips completely altered. Suddenly, Baker is no longer the ideal daughter; she is an embarrassment and someone who must be hidden, whose baby will never become part of the family."
"Issuing a false story that Baker is off to Paris with a prestigious scholarship to study for the fall, Rose "hides" her daughter in a San Francisco facility for unmarried women-where most residents are young enough to be classified as girls. There, Baker completes her pregnancy and finds agency with her peers, beginning to assert herself. By doing so, she takes the first steps into adulthood."
"We're still trapped in social stigma about women and their bodies and the way they parent or choose not to parent. I"
A debut novel released in March follows Elizabeth Baker Phillips, a straight-A teenager in the late 1960s whose pregnancy shatters her identity and her relationship with her mother, Rose Phillips. Rose responds by hiding Baker in a San Francisco facility for unmarried women, where Baker completes her pregnancy under a false narrative that she is leaving for Paris. In the facility, Baker meets peers and begins to assert herself, gaining agency and moving toward adulthood. The novel’s focus connects historical reproductive control and social stigma to ongoing issues affecting women’s bodies, parenting choices, and how society judges women.
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