A review by books_by_the_bottle
The Last Carolina Girl by Meagan Church

5.0

For Leah Payne, life is simple: she goes to school and she enjoys her time at home with her father. A lumberjack by trade, when her father is killed in an accident, she is uprooted from everything she knows. Just fourteen years old, she is forced to live with a foster family, The Griffins. The lady of the house, Mrs. Griffin, is cold, mean and demanding. While serving as the family’s helpmate, she is introduced to a doctor studying eugenics. What happens next is truly horrifying and evil.

I picked up this book because I had seen it compared to Where the Crawdads Sing, which I loved. Though quite different, it still had the same type of imagery, of nature and enjoying the little things in life. My heart broke for Leah as she tried to navigate a life away from all she knew, with someone who hated her just for existing. In a historical aspect, I had no idea that there was such a eugenics movement in the United States. It was disgusting and frightening to read Leah’s story, and even more so to learn part of it was based on true events. The author provided a note at the end, explaining her inspiration for writing this book. It’s not an easy story to read, but it’s important that it be told. This one will stay with me for a long time.

Thank you to Netgalley, Meagan Church and Sourcebooks for the ARC! “The Last Carolina Girl” will be released March 7.

This review will be shared to my Instagram blog (@books_by_the_bottle) shortly.