The Girls with No Names - by Serena Burdick (Paperback)

About the Book

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 older sister, becomes emboldened to do as she pleases. Her rebellion comes with consequences, and one morening 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.

Book Synopsis

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

Review Quotes

"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

I'm shocked I'd never heard of The House of Mercy, the asylum for fallen women at the center of Serena Burdick's beautiful novel. Burdick expertly weaves together the stories of women affected by the asylum, telling a mesmerizing tale of strength, subterfuge, and the unbreakable bond between sisters. - Whitney Scharer, author of The Age of Light

Filled with true historical details about life inside a work house for wayward girls in the 1910s, The Girls with No Names is a beautifully written, haunting novel. Burdick gorgeously portrays womanhood and coming-of-age set against the backdrop of the real House of Mercy, but above all, she weaves a stunning story of sisters, friendship, secrets, and ultimately survival. I fell in love with the courageous Effie and Mabel and will not soon forget their stories. - Jillian Cantor, USA Today bestselling author of The Lost Letter and In Another Time

"Burdick's carefully researched narrative shines a light on the untold stories of countless real women, and fans of Joanna Goodman's The Home for Unwanted Girls will be consumed by the fast-paced plot and well-characterized, sympathetic girls at the novel's heart." - Booklist

"The lives of women in early-20th-century New York spring to life through Burdick's deft sketching... As for the House of Mercy itself, Burdick shrewdly lets it loom in the background for a bit before pulling it to the foreground, like an urban legend suddenly brought to life. A spellbinding thriller for fans of Gilded Age fiction." - Kirkus Reviews

"Burdick will break hearts with this exquisitely wrought, meticulously researched historical reflection on an American version of the infamous Magdalene laundries of Ireland... The narrative combines lush prose with a quick and riveting plot. Readers will be intensely moved by this historical." - Publishers Weekly