I love historical fiction because I learn facts that I didn't realize had happened. Home for Erring and Outcast Girls falls into this category. What these fallen girls had to endure in the early 1900's is unthinkable. Thank goodness to the homes that took them in. Julie Kibler did a fine job in bringing the characters to life.

Thank you for the early copy from NetGalley.

This book was so great. Truly unputdownable and it kept me up all night reading.

This book should be enjoyed by many...the fact that it is based on a real "home" makes it even better

This book follows the lives of two young woman who are connected by a home for " fallen girls ", and inspired by historical events. You get to follow them on an adventure of emotions, a story of love, loss, and the power of friendship.
The Berachah House is redemption and protection of Erring Girls, it is in Texas and a place where unwed mothers were sent to live and raise their children.
The story switches back and forth between the past and the present time.
The story of Mattie and Lizzie made me so sad, it makes you see how the woman was looked upon back in the 1900s, along with it ringing true today still for so many women. I found this book to be very interesting, it sucked me in, along with taking me on a roller coaster ride of emotions.
I felt though that the story was longer than what it needed to be, it told a story about a woman named Cate, I became bored with her back story, and I would've been happy with just the story of the Berachah House.

3.5 stars from me.
Lots of details included on background of characters, events and side characters which I often did not find relevant to the story. The characters were interesting enough but the past and the present were not tied closely enough for me to see a strong connection.
If you like a meandering story, this one might appeal to you. However, I found the chapters way too long, each covering one character. By the time it went back to character #1, I had forgotten the where it was left off.
Spoiler:
The mystery of one of the characters was well-done and surprising, and that's why I added the extra half-star.
This book did not do it for me, I had looked forward to knowing more of that era but the story plodded along and was too cumbersome for my liking.

This book caught my attention first because of its setting. Arlington, Texas is just a few miles from the town where I grew up. The Berachah Industrial Home was a religious haven, housing 'ruined' women, homeless girls and unwed mothers from 1903-1935. It was rare at the time in its belief that a mother and a child belonged together. And that's exactly what brought Lizzie and Maggie to the home's doors at the lowest point in their lives. In this home, the two women found hope, home and family.

In this multi-era historical fiction novel, as the reader is entrenched in the story of the Berachah women, university librarian Cate Sutton is also doing her own excavations. She came across the cemetery of the home, and through her job in University Collections, begins looking into the history of the home and its inhabitants. Cate's been running from her past for decades... will she stop running long enough to find healing like so many of the Berachah girls did before?

Threads of religion are woven throughout the novel. Julie Kibler does an incredible job of showing the many amazing things religion is responsible for as well the the negative side of church politics and the tragic aftermath of a church protecting the wrong person. This book will strike righteous indignation over the mistreatment of women through the decades and remind you that you are stronger than you believe.

This book is about the Berachah Home for the Redemption and Protection of Erring Girls built in 1903 in Texas. Apparently, this was a real place that operated until 1935. The home took in girls who were pregnant, as well as their children and gave them a home so that they could get back on their feet.

Parts of this book focus on Cate, an librarian in 2017, who is working on the archives of the home and becomes invested in the stories of the girls who had lived there.

We also have narrators Lizzie Bates and Mattie McBride who are girls at the home. Both had been abandoned by their families after they had children out of wedlock (which was apparently so much of a scandal back then that your family would disown you for it).

The book jumps back and forth between the stories about the girls in the home in the early 1900's and then 2017 when Cate is researching it. A good read for fans of Orphan Train and Before We Were Yours.

Julie Kibler’s novel, Home For Erring And Outcast Girls is a fictional story but it is based on a real home and real characters. The Berachah Home came into being in the early 1930’s and it provided a home to women and their children . The home was for women who were unmarried and pregnant. These women were shunned by society and they were left to survive on their own.
I had read this author’s prior book, Calling Me Home, and I had enjoyed it very much.
This novel tells an important story but I found it was quite slow and it took me a while to finish it. There is also a duel time line story that I found distracting. Unfortunately, for me, this novel did not hold my interest. I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley and the publisher. This is my unbiased opinion and review.

I'm so glad this book was written! The story of the Berachah Industrial Home and the women it served needed to be told and the author's thorough research is much appreciated. The women she introduced faced terrible challenges in their lives, yet survived and formed close bonds. Their circumstances are hard to imagine. I had a couple of unanswered questions at the end, but really enjoyed the stories of Mattie, Lizzie, and Cate..

The Berachah Industrial Home for the Redemption and Protection of Erring Girls in Arlington, Texas that is depicted in this novel was a real place. The home was founded by a minister and his wife . They were dedicated to helping girls and women who were unwed. The home not only took the mothers but also their babies. As you can imagine this was a completely different approach from other homes for unwed mothers at this time . I was fascinated by the premise of this novel and its inspiration of historical events surrounding the Berachah Home. I think it is an important story and I really wanted to learn more about the home. In 1904, there were few options for girls and unwed mothers and there was absolutely none that allowed a mother to keep their child. None except the Berachah Home for the Redemption and Protection of Erring Girls.

This is an extremely interesting story. The story is comprised of three narratives, two from the early 1900’s, and one in 2017. I am sorry to say that the earlier story was ruined by the unnecessary story that takes place in present day. That part of the story was only linked by a present day Librarian who was reading the information about the Home. Unfortunately I found this part of the novel made it difficult to stay interested.

The author’s note at the end lets us know how well researched the novel is. Many of the characters were based on real people. I totally appreciated the historical significance of this story and the amount of research that went into writing about the Berachah Home.

I would like to thank the publisher, the author and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thoroughly enjoyed this well-written novel. Julie Kibler writes confidently and sensitively about turn of the century Texas. The Berachah home exists for "fallen" women and girls, addicted to drugs, many of them taken advantage of by men and their appetites. Along with the historical aspect, the story line of a modern-day librarian and her feelings of identification with these women is appealing and sympathetic. Definitely recommended.

This is a story about the Berachah Industrial Home. It was a religious home for women and children who are not married, find themselves pregnant, living on the street, and may even have an addiction problem. They are in dire straits and in desperate need of help.

I had a lot of trouble getting truly invested into any of the characters’ lives. I was most drawn to Mattie and Lizzie’s stories. They were the most interesting and I enjoyed the friendship that blossomed out of love and the need to connect with someone.

I was really looking forward to this book because I completely fell in love with Julie Kibler’s first novel Calling Me Home. I had always hoped she would write another book and am saddened that I did not enjoy this one more.

Some time ago, I read Calling me Home by Julie Kibler, a book recommended by my friend Theresa. I thoroughly enjoyed Calling me Home. I initially became interested in Home for Erring and Outcast Girls because my friend Sue suggested I request it from NetGalley to review. Then I noted the author, so my interest increased.
Kibler bases Home for Erring and Outcast Girls on a real home for unwed mothers: Berachah Industrial Home for the Redemption of Erring Girls. In Arlington, TX, Rev James and Maggie Upchurch started the home in 1903. Its mission was to help homeless, usually pregnant, women. Berachah sets itself apart from other homes of its type in a significant way. It did not require the women to give up their babies.
In fact, women learned parenting skills and job skills so they could take care of themselves and their children. That is a significant departure from other homes with so-called helping attitudes.
Kibler has taken the real place and given readers a story of heartbreak and redemption. She provides the back story of Lizzie Bates and Mattie McBride, residents at Berachah with their children. Readers follow their friendship and come to care for the characters deeply.
Then Kibler takes readers on another path 100 years later when Cate Sutton, a university librarian, discovers the history of women who lived at Berachah.
Like many other readers, I enjoy a story that takes me back to another time and yet relates to the present as well. Kibler has created a moving story about women and children.
Julie Kibler’s Web site, https://juliekibler.com/, includes a wealth of information about Kibler and about her work. She encourages book clubs to contact her for telephone visits or by Skype or Facetime. Interested readers can also sign up for her newsletter.

This review also appears here: https://parkdalear.wordpress.com/2019/08/25/the-book-whisperer-rediscovers-julie-kibler/

Friendship, love and the effects of organized religion. There are also some triggery events in this book so be warned.

I really liked this story it did start to bog a little towards the end but I still enjoyed this dual storyline.

This was a very good story I did feel at times the two stories needed a little more cohesion, however I really enjoyed the story.

Karissa Vackers narration as very well done.

I look forward to more books from Kibler.

I usually read YA, but heard about this book in a webinar and was intrigued by the historical aspect of it. I thought the blending of history and fiction was done very well to connect women dealing with similar issues 100 years apart. It is sad to read how women were treated back then, yet startling to then realize that similar stories are still happening today. I loved the author's note at the end where she clarified what parts were real and what she fictionalized.

While this was an interested part of history that I did not know about, I didn't find a true connection with any of the characters as I found in her first novel, Calling Me Home.

This book was a little short but grabbed the reader right away. It flips back and forth between present and past but still reminds me how hard it was and is to be a woman in this world. Thank you you NetGalley for the ARC

The parts of the book that focused on the Berachah Home women were far more interesting to me than the modern-day parts. I found myself caring a great deal about Lizzie and Mattie, but never really came to care much for Cate. I didn't feel as much of a connection between Cate's story and the Berachah Home stories as I think readers were intended to feel.

One of the main strengths of the story was that each of the three main characters' way of thinking was so distinct. Lizzie's chapters in particular were my favorites. The book ended fairly well and there was a good sense of closure.

This is a fictionalized story based on a real place, the Berachah Home for the Redemption and Protection of Erring Girls in Texas, and on real people. The story is broken into two timelines. One focusing on a few people that lived and worked in the Berachah Home and a second more contemporary timeline of a woman that works in a library and studies the Home's history.

It can be heartbreaking to read the stories of the girls from the Berachah Home. The way women were historically treated was just terrible. I use the term women loosely as some of the characters were still so young when they ran (or were pushed) into trouble. It is sad to think that some people still run into the sort of backwards thinking that was presented in this story nowadays, though I like to think that there has been a lot of progress in many areas.

I found the story of the Berachah Home girls interesting and engaging right from the beginning. The contemporary story took a little longer to become engaging and felt a bit more contrived, though I did end up really enjoying that storyline as well.

I thought the writing was really well done. I previously read Calling Me Home by this same author and also enjoyed that story, which is why I chose to read this one. I would recommend this author to fans of historical fiction with a touch of modern day story included.

I really wanted to love,love this book. The story line was very interesting as it is based on an actual facility. A lot of jumping back and forth, difficult on my aging brain. It’s a wonderful story but I found myself becoming bored with so much back and forth. I know there are a lot of accepting readers out there