They were sent away to be forgotten. This is their story.
In this electrifying historical novel about coming of age in tumultuous 1960s San Francisco, a pregnant teenager reckons with womanhood and agency after being sent to a home for unwed mothers.
“1968 may not feel so very long ago to some, but in terms of attitudes toward women and their rights it may as well have been a century ago. And yet, Schatz’s book feels timely for these difficult times.”—Booklist
“The illuminating latest from Schatz . . . looks back on the impact of the sexual revolution before Roe v. Wade. . . . Schatz convincingly evokes the confusion and conflicting emotions of an unplanned pregnancy at a time when abortion was outlawed across the U.S. This resonates.”—Publishers Weekly
“A timely and important novel, and one of the most heartfelt I have read in years . . . Readers will gain eye-opening insight, empathy, and understanding as Baker struggles to find a voice amid society’s shaming and to discover—and persevere—with what is best for her. . . . A must-read work, especially now.”—Natalie Jenner, internationally bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society
“A beautifully told story about an important moment in history, explored with such compassion and heart . . . With gorgeous prose and cinematic scenes, Kate Schatz has given us a remarkable novel.”—Edan Lepucki, author of Time’s Mouth
“With a fierce heart and an unflinching eye, Kate Schatz’s Where the Girls Were portrays the sexual revolution and the fight for women’s reproductive rights at the height of the countercultural movement. It’s a compelling debut, timely as ever, proving that some battles never truly end.”—Vanessa Hua, author of Forbidden City
“Kate Schatz’s Where the Girls Were is a triumph, warm and whip-smart, a total page-turner. I can’t think of another story that portrays with such heart and insight what life was like for American women in the decades before Roe. I turned the last page full of hope and righteous outrage, with a renewed sense of urgency to fight the good fight.”—Molly Wizenberg, author of The Fixed Stars
“Where the Girls Were, like all the best historical fiction, is wide, urgent, and, above all, timely.”—Laurie Frankel, author of Family Family
“With this intimate and visionary novel, Kate Schatz has given us a gorgeous, moving, unforgettable tale of what it means to come of age, claim your power, and defy the forces of injustice against the odds.”—Caro De Robertis, author of The Palace of Eros
“An urgent and nuanced glimpse into the experience of womanhood in America . . . Kate Schatz leads us on a breathtaking journey with these thoughtful, fully realized characters, and I’ll be recommending this book to everyone I know.”—Sarah Damoff, bestselling author of The Bright Years
“In this compulsively readable novel, Kate Schatz creates a world with much to teach our own.”—Domenica Ruta, New York Times bestselling author of With or Without You and All the Mothers
“[Kate Schatz’s] prose is like poetry. It’s like hands in a bowl of candy. Thrilling, propulsive, breathless, and brimming with Schatz’s deep understanding of longing and frailty . . . of humanness.”—Catherine Newman, New York Times bestselling author of Sandwich
“Do the Work! confronts the most persistent and urgent crisis in America with wit, grace, patience, and, surprisingly, puzzles!”
—Conan O’Brien
“Since we felt the ground shift...I think we all are looking for concrete ways to create change. This book gives a clear, actionable path to doing that work we have all been talking about. White folks—pick this one up immediately.”
—Megan Rapinoe, World Cup champion, Olympian, and activist
“This clever activity book is a simple, fun resource for anyone looking to better the way they think about race and identity in America. Wonderful and illuminating.”
—Padma Lakshmi, bestselling author and host/executive producer of Hulu’s Taste the Nation and Bravo’s Top Chef
"An entertaining resource for anyone seeking genuine engagement with anti-racist activism."
—Kirkus Reviews
"Enhanced by bold graphics, vibrant illustrations, and sharp humor, this call to action strikes the right balance between outrage and inspiration." —Publishers Weekly
“Rad American History A—Z is a book I wish I had when I was growing up—and it's a book I hope to read to my children one day. In such chaotic political times, Rad American History is a critical tool for young people to know how change happens—and to know that they too can make change happen.”
— Alicia Garza, founder of BlackFutures Lab and co-founder of Black Lives Matter
"Imagine learning history right the first time, without ever having to unlearn all the lies and omissions. RAD WOMEN WORLDWIDE lifts the doom—maybe this is, in fact, a wonderful time to grow up."
—Miranda July, artist, writer, and filmmaker
“This MUST HAVE super fun read fills in the missing pieces in so many kids' (and grown-ups') educations. Couldn't recommend it enough.”
— Kathleen Hanna, singer, Bikini Kill, Le Tigre and The Julie Ruin
“As multifaceted as the nation itself, Rad American History A–Z is an alphabet’s worth of movements and moments that have shaped the United States, including many history-makers such as young people who are often marginalized or omitted from traditional textbooks. Kate Schatz’s lively, accessible text and Miriam Klein Stahl’s energetic original art combine in a clear-eyed yet hopeful view of our shared history as a living thing—something we are all still creating.”
—Rebecca Stefoff, adapter of Howard Zinn’s A Young People’s History of the United States and James W. Loewen’s Lies My Teacher Told Me: Young Readers’ Edition
“[Rad American History A-Z ] is an engaging, fascinating, and necessary book that speaks truth to power.”—Congresswoman Barbara Lee
“[Rad Women Worldwide] needs to be in every school, library, and home.”
— Margaret Cho, comedian
"[Rad American Women A-Z] is not a book. This is a guest list for a party of my heroes. Thank you for inviting us."
—Lemony Snicket, author of A Series of Unfortunate Events
"I feel honored to be included in this book…The world needs rad women to create a just society."
—Dolores Huerta, Labor Leader, Civil Rights Activist
“How do you help young girls change the universe? Show them the women who have already done it! This beautiful book shows girls (and boys) the power and importance of each person who decides to make a difference. A celebration of smart, brave, tough, creative, kind, beautiful, hopeful, and wise women!”
— Andrea Beaty, author of Rosie Revere Engineer and Iggy Peck Architect
"Schatz and Stahl are a pair of 21st century Howard Zinns, making the Western canon bawl with this mindblowing, history-expanding, beautifully executed roll call of badass women past and present. Our daughters and sons need this book, and so do their parents."
—Adam Mansbach, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Go the F**k to Sleep
“Kate Schatz's delightfully queer work of fiction has all the elements of a solid album: desire, darkness, sex and transformation... This fireball of a read captures an interpretive lyrical undertone as sexy and intoxicating as Harvey's original.” ―Curve Magazine
“All the writers I know, at least the cool ones, fantasize being rock stars. Kate Schatz' debut book is the next best thing - a writer turning her engagement with a great album into flesh and blood characters, creepy-sexy plot turns and howling guitar, um, verbal solos. I wish I'd thought of it first.” ―Rebecca Brown, author of THE TERRIBLE GIRLS.
“I'd like to slip this between a few books that I read over and over again: The Lesbian Body by Monique Wittig, Spanking the Maid by Robert Coover, and By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept by Elizabeth Smart. This is a journey, a song, a symphony, a love poem, a cry, a whisper, a nightmare, and, in such an unexpected and joyous way - a sustained arousal. It is at once about torture and love, bondage and caresses, empowerment and submission, femininity and tomboys, entrapment and escape, kidnapping and running away, death and ecstasy. With cruel and luscious women who are teachers, nurses, children, campers, and lovers, we are stripped of our senses and then filled up again with a new way of seeing, reading, sexing, feeling, tasting and loving.” ―Erin Cressida Wilson, Spirit-Award winning screenwriter of Secretary and Fur
“In this book, there is no distinction between music, fiction, books and albums. The ambiguity and lyricism -- with threads and fragments from Harvey's lyrics scattered throughout -- compel you to read chapters over and over. They take you like a song on repeat, rubbing you until you bleed.” ―Karrie Higgins, The Los Angeles Times
“Continuum's 33 1/3 series, which produces lively little volumes of criticism, personal history, and other kinds of "cover lit" on beloved pop and rock albums, has Kate Schatz's fictional riff on PJ Harvey's 1993 Rid of Me, which the online magazine Inkblot once described as "the musical equivalent of a bulldozer tearing through your living room." That review could apply equally well to Schatz's novella. Each chapter, named after tracks like "Rub It 'Til It Bleeds" and "50ft Queenie," takes the reader further into the kidnapping-cum-affair between Kathleen, who has fled an ailing controlling patriarch, and Mary, her captor, who has left a suffocating marriage for an abandoned hunting cabin in the forest. Neither character seems to have any idea of how to heal their abusive pasts; instead, they take their cues from Harvey's unsettling music. Schatz's prose, at time dystopic and surrealist, often really does sound like a rock song. The music winds up accompanying the fiction, which is just as weird and unsettlingly powerful as the album's trademark photo of Harvey's hair rising from the water like a new hybrid animal.” ―Bitch Magazine