I first picked up this book when I was browsing through the library, searching for an unconventional read. Looking through the nutmeg nominees, I read the title and was instantly intrigued.
The book starts off narrating the story of innocent Ola and Izella, two sisters growing up in southern Georgia. When Ola becomes pregnant, younger sister Izella feels responsible for protecting Ola from her serious mistake. Both sisters aim to hide Ola’s sinful actions from their staunchly Christian mother, and an unforgiving community.
In the end, the only safe option for Ola is to die, and her secret perishes with her.
Fast-forward to the story of Missippi, a young, motherless, girl raped and impregnated by her uncle. Her father, troubled by her situation, sends her to a home for pregnant teenagers, where she meets three other girls like her, and a white girl named Susan. These girls, all from different backgrounds, are united by a common cause. Together, they are silently waging a war against society’s expectations for women. Instead of dying silent and submissive, like Ola, they unapologetically bear the wounds of their past, and bring life into the world. Meanwhile, Izella grows up encumbered by the ghost of her sister.
This book explores the generational wounds and trauma that continue to haunt women, even today, and encourages all girls to use their pain for power, and use the darkness of history, to bring on an era of activism.
Randi Pink masterfully weaves together the stories of four unassuming girls, all of whom experience, or vicariously experience the burden of an unwanted pregnancy. This timely read explores the ideas of pro-choice and pro-life; highly controversial events in the light of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
I definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in the era of backwoods abortions in the South during the 1950s and ’60s, it is a truly enlightening novel!
Spilled Ink 