The Girls Who Went Away Audiobook By Ann Fessler cover art

The Girls Who Went Away

The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade

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The Girls Who Went Away

By: Ann Fessler
Narrated by: Coleen Marlo
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In this deeply moving and myth-shattering work, Ann Fessler brings out into the open for the first time the astonishing untold history of the million and a half women who surrendered children for adoption due to enormous family and social pressure in the decades before Roe v. Wade. An adoptee who was herself surrendered during those years and recently made contact with her mother, Fessler brilliantly brings to life the voices of more than 100 women as well as the spirit of those times, allowing the women to tell their stories in gripping and intimate detail.

©2006 Ann H. Fessler (P)2016 Tantor Adoption & Fostering Americas Biographies & Memoirs Gender Studies Parenting & Families Relationships Social Sciences Women Adoption Inspiring Thought-Provoking Heartfelt
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Critic reviews

"Fessler recounts her own journey to find and reunite with her birth mother in this heartrending look at the untold story of American women compelled to surrender their children." ( Booklist)

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Eye-opening Revelations • Powerful Personal Testimonies • Beautiful Narration • Important Historical Documentation

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it was an intense emotional book. it put words to some of the struggles I had in my heart that I didn't have words for before. it opened my heart to the women who suffer in silence. it gave me a new perspective on my birthmom and my brothers birthmom.

wow....I am an adoptee and a birthmom

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A wonderful book about what the baby snatch era was really like. The book is based on facts, but it is also gripping. Easy to follow. Worth every minute of my time. A must read for anyone who works in the adoption triad.

A fantastic read!

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I am glad I read this. I'm adopted. I hope to find my biological mother.

This is a good book to read if you are adopted.

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I am not close to anyone who is adopted, or who gave up a baby, but having listened to this book I feel a great compassion for people on both sides of the situation. Previously I assumed the stance of adoption being a great solution for all concerned, but having had three children of my own I now can't imagine having given one up to the unknown. The coercion that these girls went through, when they were incredibly vulnerable already, is amazing, and the thought of living with this the rest of your life is torturous. Thank you, Ann Fessler, for bringing this to light, for letting those living with it know that they are not alone, and those of us on the outside become aware of how multi-faceted adoption really is.

Greatly Increased My Understanding and Compassion

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If you have any connection to adoption in your family during the 1960’s this book is a must read. It touched me so deeply. Highly recommend!

Just incredible

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This very well researched and thoughtful book presents a perspective often hidden in order to maintain a societal narrative that did not serve the young women who found themselves pregnant. A must read.

Amazing perspective

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These true stories were difficult to hear at times. But everybody should know what these women went through. I am an adoptee and I am so glad I read this book.

Great Book

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Ann Fessler has produced a heartfelt and beautiful body of work that clearly defines what many of us observed from a distance or experienced in secrecy during the 1950's and 1960's in America. Ann covers all perspectives to include young women who were coerced or forced to surrender their babies, parents of the girls, the unwed mother facilities, the agencies that managed the adoptions, the adoptive parents, and the estranged young fathers. This history is essential reading for all who value, and also for all who question, the reproductive freedom that teeters on a wobbly base in American politics. This book provides the voices, tears, and despair that policy does not convey. I loved listening to this book and honor all who contributed.

A Most Vital Collection of Women's Stories

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As an adoptee from 1958, this book showed me a whole new perspective. I feel like I can understand my birth mother and her lack of choices.

Touching

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In the USA, in 2022, this should be required reading for all citizens. It is almost impossible to explain to today's women what this period in American history was like. When a doctor would not prescribe any form of birth control with out your husbands permission. And an unmarried woman would have her father informed of her request. When employers had the right to know you were pregnant before you were 12 weeks along. The decade between 1958 and 1968 were so pivotal, it can not be overstated. By 1969, birth control pills could be obtained, although not as easily as a few years later. Change came in like a flood.

This book could have been shortened by three or four hours, however. Lots of repetition, while interesting, left me tempted to skip ahead. Originally published in 2007, and released on audible 2016, with an afterwards, it remains an account of a period of American history that should not be forgotten and serves as a cautionary tale.. Especially with the current roll back of Woman's reproductive rights.

Powerful and Important

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