Wayward Girls

by Claire Matturro

" Wayward Girls " is a portrait of brave sisterhood, infused with beauty and exquisite pain. Your heart will melt with every turn of the page." Laura Benedict, Edgar-nominated author of The Stranger Inside

"Wayward Girls delivers suspense, emotional depth, social commentary, and a gripping story. Grab a copy, a box of tissues, and the phone number of your oldest friend, because you're going to want to talk about this one after you turn the last page. It's a terrific book." Mary Anna Evans, author of the Faye Longchamp Mysteries

When late-night phone calls summon Jude Coleridge and Camille Prescott back to the Talbot Hall School for Girls, painful memories bombard them. Though estranged for years, both bear the physical and emotional scars from their youth.

At the boarding school, they were branded “the crazy girls, the ones who lie” and became unlikely best friends. They soon formed a trio with a new student, Wanda Ann, who pulled them into her bewildering relationship with the school psychologist, Dr. Hedstrom. But Wanda Ann’s wild stories masked a truth that threatened to engulf them all.

As teens, the girls could only rely on each other as they moved toward an unfathomable, fiery danger. Now, in the crumbling halls of Talbot, hours before the building’s demolition, they must grant forgiveness, to themselves and others, if they are to move forward.

316 pages, Paperback

Published August 11, 2021

About the author

Claire Hamner Matturro, a former lawyer and college teacher, is the author of four legal mysteries with a sense of humor. Her books are: Skinny-Dipping (2004) (a BookSense pick, Romantic Times’Best First Mystery, and nominated for a Barry Award); Wildcat Wine (2005) (nominated for a Georgia Writer of the Year Award); Bone Valley(2006) and Sweetheart Deal (2007) (winner of Romantic Times’ Toby Bromberg Award for Most Humorous Mystery), all published by William Morrow. After her romantic suspense legal thriller, Trouble in Tallahassee (KaliOka Press 2017), Claire turned more serious with her newer book, The Smuggler's Daughter (Red Adept Publishing July 2020) and she returns to the Gulf Coast of Florida that she knows so well in a gripping mystery.

And look for her newest book Wayward Girls, her joint-writing adventure with Penny Koepsel, which was released in August of this year.

Claire remains active in writers’ groups, teaches creative writing in adult education, and write reviews for Southern Literary Review.

Visit her at www.clairematturro.com

Reviews

[Courtney (caffeinereadrepeat) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well Flappin' Chickens! 😳😯🤯

Well holy cannoli! First, don't let this cover fool you - it is NOT a young adult book! But gosh was this book was very impressive. The difficult topics dealt with in this book, from a time a while ago of how it was handled, was written and delivered so sensitively and with such truth I appreciated that so much. This book tugged at my heart strings, and I could feel personally as I suffered from mental illness - anxiety and depression in my teen & early adult years.
Camille & Jude used to go to an all girls school, Talbot Hall, as teenagers & had become unforeseen best friends. A late night phone call to each girl many years later, informs them that the school will be demolished. Painful memories overtake them of their time there, aside with scars both physical and emotional. Another student, Wanda Ann, had pulled both girls in along with the school psychiatrist, Dr. Hedstrom.
When they left, they left behind secrets and guilt and now before the demolition, Camille & Jude return to the destruction so they can hopefully move forward and let go.
This amazing thriller keeps you wanting to read, to find out what's next, to know how it ends. The authors handled sensitive subject matter so well & highlighted something taboo, to such light. This book captures you, shakes you & the plot keeps you engaged. The ending was just right & I felt all the emotions.

🔴 Trigger warnings: Mental Illness; Some abuse

Thank you to Penny Koespel for sending me this novel!

I give this a strong 4 / 5 Bouquets! 💐

[Bruce Ballister · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wayward Girls is not chic lit. Is it is not a happy memorabilia, a romance, a forbidden love triangle, an unrequited angst-filled melodrama. It is a drama worth reading, thinking about, and understanding that many of the conditions it describes from a generation ago, are still alive and well in too many locations around the country today. The girls; Jude, Camille, Wanda Ann, Elizabeth, Makena, and a few others are finding their way through a ‘private’ girl’s school for various reasons. Most of the girls have been recommended to Talbot by a family psychiatrist. Were those referrals legitimate, in the best interests of the girls? Or were their other reasons for those referrals. That psychiatrist is now maneuvering for a management slot at Talbots while drugging the owner’s wife.
Jude has, according to her referral, ‘a potential for violence’ and has a friend she meets in the nearby citrus grove for her weed. Camille was dropped off at a bus stop awaiting her ride to the school but had to pay for her own taxi to ‘the middle of nowhere.’” What motivates Elizabeth to be an over-the-top pleaser who will do anything to stay in the good graces of the management. Why did Makena suddenly disappear? A groundskeeper has photographs of naked and restrained girls and boys. The girls’ records are found to have grossly inaccurate diagnoses. What is going on at the Talbot Hall for Girls?
As the plot thickens, the girls begin to find out the truth about their referrals to Talbot, and it isn’t pretty. Relationships between the adults are stressed beyond repair as secrets are revealed. Talbot Hall is not a happy place. Told in Then and Now scenes as Camille and Jude reunite to witness the final destruction of the school, we see that their reunion is still filled with unpacked baggage from those eventful and painful teen years at Talbots. Can sexually repressed adults really raise adolescent girls without entanglements? The book has real-life echoes of several of the worst atrocities in Florida’s past dealings with institutionalized ‘schools’ for difficult or abandoned children. Although it deals with a difficult topic, it honestly looks at the experience through the eyes of the children. It is worth your time to read it. The two authors’ collaboration is seamless. You are going to be glad to say you read it before it hit the NYT best sellers list!

[Donna Christie · Rating 5 out of 5]

First it was Nickel Boys and now Wayward Girls - troubled teens faced horror in Florida in times not too far past. As in the case of another reader, I have had no experience with boarding schools and certainly didn't realized there were so many of them still operating, both therapeutic and "finishing" schools. (Googled it.) From just living in a 1960s girls' dormitory at UGA with curfews and dress codes, demerits and detentions, and other nonsense, I can relate to the bonds that formed among the girls. The authors of Wayward Girls intensify the repression by creating from page one, a sense of the foreboding that awaited within Talbot Hall. The characters are beautifully developed, and the conflicts each faces reflect the choices we all have to make between being bold and being safe, being true to ourselves and our friends and looking the other way. But the book isn't a character study - it's a thriller that keeps you reading when you know you should put it down and go to sleep. The authors interweave the past and present seamlessly to bring the reader to a understanding of how the relationship of the girls began, ended and was redeemed. Understanding the rather depraved relationships of the Talbot Hall administration and staff are another thing altogether. Very strange and scary folk.
On a lighter note, one of my favorite characters in the book was a giant dog named Carson. I think I felt I knew him better than I knew the girls. He was not only of heroic proportions, but clearly had a hero's heart and total devotion to Jude. I loved Carson!
Again, not knowing what the environment of a girls boarding school was like in the 1970s, I found it a bit unrealistic that drug use could be so pervasive and without the knowledge of most of the supervisors. It seems that teens tripping on LSD and constantly reeking of marijuana would have actually been something that, even at Talbot Hall, the supervisors would have noticed and been vigilant about controlling. But my issues with this one point did not spoil my enjoyment of the book.
I have followed Claire Maturro for many years and have enjoyed all her books as she has explored different genres. Wayward Girls, I think, is her best book so far. I highly recommend it.

[Betanda Shanam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wayward Girls highlights the vulnerability of children, young adults, and anyone who does not follow ‘normal' development or ‘acceptable’ behaviour. Those who don't feel they belong are normally the ones targeted by bullies and abusers. The authors Claire Mutturro and Penny Koepsel covered the subject of abuse and torture in a sensitive manner that was not too graphic for the reader but maintained the seriousness of the horrendous acts.

Jude and Camille are both sent to a boarding school for girls on the recommendations of a psychologist, Dr. Hedstrom, who reports that their behaviour is too inappropriate for mainstream school and their parents cannot control them any longer. From the start of the book the authors’ description of the school and its teachers warns you of the horrors that await the girls. Feeling isolated, the girls make a mixed- match friendship group that binds them together for life. When Wanda Ann arrives at the school with a short, cropped hairstyle and wild stories of torture and abuse at her previous school, events start to unfold and Jude and Camilie find themselves caught up in Wanda’s previous life. They have no one they can trust, as Dr Hedstrom has seen to it that everyone sees the girls as delinquents that look for trouble and cannot be trusted.

A gripping well written story that will tug at your heart strings.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can Relate

Love this book, can relate as I was a child in a wilderness school….love the forgiveness at the end …a must

[Gale · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bold and unflinching with a compelling plot and captivating timeline.

[Steven C. Harms · Rating 5 out of 5]

A striking and poignant novel that shines a spotlight on immoral adults put in a position of power over teenage girls at a boarding school in Florida decades ago. Written through the eyes of Camille, Jude, Makena, Elizabeth and Wanda Ann, the story pulls you in quickly as you get to know the girls and their various dysfunctional family back stories, making them all vulnerable teenagers at the Talbot Hall for Girls. The authors tell the story mostly through flashback from the girl’s harrowing experiences at Talbot, but they deftly weave in chapters of two of the girls who were best friends then and, now adults, are reconnecting after many years of silence on the news the school is being demolished. With predatory adults overseeing the school’s business, the friction and anticipation builds as seeds are dropped along the way that something is very wrong, and very insidious. The result is a captivating journey that will have you emotionally invested all the way to the finale. Well worth the read.

[S. Jeyran Main · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wayward girls is a crime fiction story inspired by the events that occurred at Artesia Hall, a school in Texas where a female student passed away in 1972. The result of this story is what transpires in this beautifully written tale.
Jude receives a call from an old friend, Farmer Max, telling her about her old boarding school. Talbot for girls is about to be demolished. Her friend Camille gets the same message, and the two happen to meet at the school, both wanting to see the school get destroyed.

The story is very touching as the girls relive all that happened in the building. The trauma, sexual abuse, and how they were labeled liars and delusional. Revenge is what they seek, and it was beautiful to read how they also wanted forgiveness as adults.

I recommend this book to those who like to read crime fiction.

[Donna Norman-Carbone · Rating 5 out of 5]

When they were teens, Jude and Camille forged a bond as students at a boarding school for deviant girls. Wayward Girls chronicles their experience with other girls, a pot-selling/life saving farmer, and a psychologist with questionable morals. This novel flashes back from the present where the reader learns of a rift between Jude and Camille as they revisit the trauma that caused it.

This is a page-tuner. Both touching and traumatic, Matturro and Koepsel reveal how a sisterhood is formed through harrowing experiences. It celebrates friendship and bonds that can’t be broken and a past that needs closure.

[E. Soule · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wayward Girls paints a dark and intriguing picture of a fictional boarding school in central Florida in the early 1970s. Several girls labeled "troublemakers" by their parents and psychologists form friendships and navigate their time there, uncovering mysteries and secrets within the school's walls and its faculty. The story unfolds as a slow burn mystery in dual timelines (but mostly in the past as two friends reunite in present day), gradually ramping up in intensity as the plot develops, and ending with a series of shocking twists.

I was up half the night for two nights in a row, unable to put it down. Unsure which characters to believe. The content is troubling and disturbing, but creeps up so slowly and leaves so many questions that you can't look away. I had to see how the antagonists would be exposed, and how Camille and Jude would find their way through it and get themselves to safety. This book will probably give you a book hangover for a few days, but so worth it! The 1970s Florida setting adds so much historical texture as well.

Trigger Warnings include: violence, sexual assault, drug use

[Susan Fischer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew from early on in Wayward Girls that something bad was going to happening when a taxi dropped a teenager off, alone, in front of a gothic-looking building in the middle of nowhere in Florida. This novel kept me glued to my seat reading to the very end and did not disappoint. I really enjoyed it. Ominous characters in this girls’ school like a psycho shrink, a Mick Jagger look alike handman/nightwatchman, a roommate who acts like a Stepford daughter, and an Ichabod Crane-looking school director kept me wondering who would be the villain(s) in this thriller. The authors skills at interspersing a present-day reunion with the past points of view of both main characters, and blending in their real life memories with factual details from “reform schools” which had been closed in Florida for abuse and neglect is masterful. I highly recommend this novel

[Davidneal · Rating 5 out of 5]

A new world for me, but a fascinating one

I must admit that life in an early teen girls’ boarding school is a storyline in which I would normally have absolutely no interest. However, since it was co-authored by my dearest friend in law school, Claire Hamner Matturro, I decided to give it a go. And I’m delighted I did. I now have a glimpse into a totally unfamiliar world, which is always beneficial to one’s perspective. The writing and characterization are superb. Am I guilty of partiality? Undoubtedly, but my highest recommendation is 100% genuine.

[Barbara Conrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wayward Girls by Claire Matturro and Penny Koepsel is a seamlessly told novel of suspense that will keep you reading long into the night.

The compelling characters, teens who found themselves hopelessly bound by trauma, deceit, and secrets, are brought back together in adulthood, only to discover that the past is never past.

Riveting and flawless.

[Dana Granville · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably more of a 3.5 or a little higher. Jude and Camille have been sent to what is essentially a girls reform school, or a school for troubled girls. They are unwanted. Oddly enough, it appears all of the girls have been sent their on recommendation of a psychologist or psychiatrist, and sometimes by the same ones. The head of the school is bizarre and one of the psychologists is a creep. Eventually there is a fire and it shuts the school down. Though the story was decent, it seemed a bit disjointed at times. Heads up, there is some pedophilia in the book, suicidal situations, and rape.

[Jodi Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you can destroy someone's credibility, you have complete power over them. For the "wayward girls" of Florida's Talbot boarding school, this power is in the hands of the sinister psychologist who labels them "crazy" and "the ones who lie," thus ensuring nobody believes them as the danger increases. This story of psychological suspense is as disturbing as it is compelling.

[Derith Rolfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gripping read

This is very interesting. Obviously this story is fiction, hard to believe the stories of hideous abuse, and violence are true..

[Veronica · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[♫Angielee♫ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5-4 stars
Super heavy trigger warning for rape

[Katie Lamb · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 very slow beginning

[Susan Yawn Tanner · Rating 5 out of 5]

As adults, Jude and Camille have little in common except soul-searing memories of the sultry heat of Florida, the loss of innocence…and murder.

As teens, they stand scared but defiant in the shadows of Talbot Hall. The neglected facade bears no resemblance to the elegant structure in the brochure. Nor do the headmaster and on-staff psychologist bear any resemblance to the dignified professionals who assure parents they will turn wayward daughters into young ladies.

Helpless against adults who label them as delinquents and delusional—not because they are but because labels keep them isolated and controlled—their illicit drug use is more than a sign of the times. The brief euphoria of getting high is a means to endure the unendurable.

Acid and marijuana give respite from fear but blur the lines between perception and imagination. Jude and Camille aren’t always sure what’s real and what isn’t. Who’s lying and who isn’t. A shocking death echoes through the campus, cutting through the miasma of fear and drugs with a blinding reality. There is no one to save them, no one to rely upon but each other…if they are to survive.

Wayward Girls isn’t a relaxing afternoon read nor a story to read only when time allows. It’s gut wrenching and haunting with characters who grab and hold until their story is told.