Synopsis:

During World War I, seventeen-year-old Frieda Mintz secures a job at a Boston department store and strikes out on her own, escaping her repressive Jewish mother and marriage to a wealthy widower twice her age. Determined to find love on her own terms, she is intoxicated by her newfound freedom and the patriotic fervor of the day. That is, until a soldier reports her as his last sexual contact, sweeping her up in the government’s wartime crusade against venereal disease. Quarantined in a detention center, Frieda finds in the Home’s confines a group of brash, unforgettable women who help her see the way to a new kind of independence.

 

Charity Girl is based on a little-known chapter in American history that saw fifteen thousand women across the nation incarcerated. Like When the Emperor Was Divine, Lowenthal’s poignant, provocative novel will leave readers moved - and astonished by the shameful facts that inspired it.

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Topics/Categories:

Judaism, medical history, women's rights, World War I

Best Sellers:

Boston Globe bestseller

Type of Work:

Novel

Publishers:

Houghton Mifflin Co.

Awards:

Book Sense Pick New York Times Editors' Choice

Purchase From:

Amazon
BookSense

Original Publish Date:

2007-01-03

ISBNs:

9780618919789

Formats:

Hardcover Paperback