This zippy and conversational coming-of-age documents seventeen-year-old Doris Steele’s life-changing weekend in Atlanta in 1960. Unexpectedly pregnant and desperate for an abortion, Doris turns to the person she trusts most in the world — her English teacher, Mrs. Lucas. Mrs. Lucas and her wealthy Atlanta friends introduce Doris to queerness and civil rights and the importance of choice and Doris begins to question everything she’s ever learned about God and who she is supposed to be and what is right and wrong. I have some questions about the use of real people in works of fiction (i.e MLK Jr. and Coretta Scott King), but overall really enjoyed this!

This is the story of a young Black girl in the 1960s South. She is pregnant with a baby she doesn't want, but being poor and from a small town where everyone knows each other's business, she has few options. Her favorite teacher, and friend, offers to help her by taking her to Atlanta for an abortion. There Doris runs right smack into the Civil Rights movement, meets Dr. Martin Luther King and a cast of gay, wealthy Black women with history and a willingness to help her. I truly enjoyed this eye opening book about young Black women's options at that time. Great character development, well written and an education to read. Excellent.

Amazing read! These Heathens by Mia McKenzie focuses on Doris Steele, a 17-year-old black teenager in 1960s Georgia, bogged down by familial obligations and expectations that her life will always be small (wake up, laundry, cooking, take care of children, sleep, and repeat - with a church visit interspersed in there to liven up that riveting schedule.). When Doris finds herself pregnant, she embarks on a journey with her role model (her prior teacher Mrs. Lucas *Icon*) to get an abortion in Atlanta. Her worldview explodes with new people and experiences - wealth, mixed race people, literal MLK and Malcolm X run ins, the KKK, feminism, sexuality and more. I am not drawn to coming-of-age tales but the poignant and funny writing of Mia McKenzie had me racing through this book.