Girls in Trouble

Book excerpt: “Heartfelt, filled with humanity,” this novel about an open adoption gone wrong reveals “the different forms of family bonds . . . [A] joy to read.” —Elizabeth Strout, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Amy and Isabelle and Olive Kitteridge Sara is sixteen and pregnant. Her once-devoted boyfriend seems to have disappeared, so she decides her best and only option is an open adoption with George and Eva, a couple desperate for a child. After the birth it’s clear Sara has a bond with the child that Eva can’t seem to duplicate. When it seems that Sara cannot let go, Eva and George make a drastic decision, with devastating consequences for all of them. “Caroline Leavitt’s writing is so fluid, her characters so well realized, I found myself reading Girls In Trouble nearly until the sun came up. When I was finished I felt as though I had made a new friend, and had stayed up all night listening to her stories.” —Pam Houston, award-winning author of Cowboys are My Weakness “The characters in Girls in Trouble are blazingly knowable, and it is Leavitt’s sympathy that gives her novel both its page-turning momentum and its dignity.” —Washington Post “In this wrenching exploration of parent-child relationships, Leavitt captures the tensions and rhythms of family attachments. . . . Ripe for movie adaptation, this will appeal to fans of Jacqueline Mitchard’s novels.” —Booklist “An unflinching depiction of maternal need and the dynamics of adoption.” —Publishers Weekly “Utterly engrossing and richly satisfying.” —Margot Livesey, New York Times–bestselling author of The Boy in the Field