Leavitt, author of seven previous novels, wings her way effortlessly through a laybrinth of emotion that never gets cloying as it illuminates the conflicts of the human heart.

Well done. A breakout novel if there ever was one.


A full circle filled with hope for two "girls in trouble", mother and daughter   October 15, 2006
Lilly Flora (Portland, OR)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

You would think that a book on the subject of a troubled open adoption would be terribly depressing, but even though I was going through issues while reading this book for the first time three years ago, it isn't. There is something remarkably hopeful and uplifting in this book, a kind of sense that love really is timeless and all encompassing and there is always hope in the end for a good result. You don't have to be a sixteen year old with a baby to get the message of this book.

This book is a story about a young girl named Sara, who is smart, bookish and shy. And then she meets Danny, who is everything she is not. Incredibly, he loves her. But as soon as the two 15 year olds find out that she is pregnant, everything goes to hell. Danny disappears and Sara is left too pregnant for an abortion with her parents, who only want for her to give up the baby for adoption and move on with her brilliant life and plans.

Here come in Eva and George, two loving, caring, people in their forties who want a baby and cannot have one. So they decide to adopt. During Sara's pregnancy they are everything her parents are not. Supportive and kind they become a kind of extra-parent set for Sara. But as soon as her baby, Anne, is born, things change. Eva and George want time with their baby, but Sara can't stop loving her child, or the adoptive parents. Soon this escalates to jealousy, confrontation, fighting, and a decision that changes five lives forever. The "girls in trouble" of the title refers not only to the old saying used for pregnant teens in the 50's, but to the consequences of the decision on Sara and Anne.

The plot sounds depressing and sad and a little hopeless, but this is about, almost, absolution for our faults and coming full circle after great trial and trauma. The author's turn of phrase is amazing, especially when it comes to expressing all kinds of love and devotion in a non-sappy way. I don't have children, and never went through the kind of situation that happened to Sara but I can still relate to the emotions behind this book. Anyone could with how well it is written. You will laugh, cry, and be sad when this book is over. Recommend highly.

Five stars.



In the manner of Alice Hoffman,   January 19, 2004
Gwendolen Gross (NJ)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

Caroline Leavitt is generous with her readers; she gives us believable people who win our hearts while they make mistakes. I loved this book as a mother, a daughter, and a writer. It was captivating because nothing was predictable, yet she maintains hope in the darkest of times. Another winner by Ms. Leavitt!!


On par with...   June 16, 2004
Rebecca Greene (Los Angeles, CA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

...Barbara Kingsolver! Girls in Trouble grabbed me the way the Bean Trees did. Only this isn't Caroline Leavitt's first novel, you've got 7 more to enjoy after she hooks you with the latest. I do not use the word "hooks" lightly. I read Girls in Trouble on a flight from Los Angeles to Denver, and for the first time in my over travelled life was disappointed that the flight was not longer, long enough at least to finish this gripping story. Most every one has asked themselves a question that begins with, "How would I feel if..." and most women have asked themselves the question, "How would I feel if I got pregnant?" "What would I do?" It is admittedly one of the most personally and politically charged questions of our time. In Girls in Trouble, Caroline Leavitt involves us in the both agonizing and joyful struggle of one girl's attempt to answer it. For immediate purchase and enjoyment only.


Read this book!!!   June 19, 2004
G. Harwood (Houston, TX United States)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

Girls in Trouble was one of the best, most engrossing novels I have read in a while. The pain felt by both Sara and Eva and George is so real I could feel a heavyness in my chest while I read this book (even sneaking a quick page or two at work). Several parts broke my heart, but it was a pretty real idea book. Not much sugar coating. The only think I sort of secretly wished was for Sara to have been able to gotten back together....call me a hopeless romantic fool. R