Women of a Promiscuous Nature

Girl, Interrupted meets The Handmaid's Tale in 1940s North Carolina, as a young woman is accused of "promiscuity" and unjustly incarcerated at The State Industrial Farm Colony for Women...

Based on the long-buried history of the American Plan, this powerful and shockingly timely story of resistance and resilience exposes the real government program designed to regulate women's bodies and sexuality throughout the first half of the 20th century.

A Publishers Marketplace BUZZ BOOKS Selection Indie Next Pick LibraryReads Selection

"Both a cautionary tale and a deeply compassionate rendering of women wrongly imprisoned in a system designed to break them, Everhart's propulsive story is filled with injustice, intrigue, and the determination to fight back." --LISA WINGATE, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Shelterwood

On a brisk February morning while walking to the diner where she works, 24 year-old Ruth Foster is stopped by the local sheriff. He insists she accompany him to a health clinic, threatening to arrest her if she doesn't undergo testing in order to preserve decency and prevent the spread of sexual disease.

Though Ruth has never shared more than a chaste kiss with a man, by day's end she is one of dozens of women held at the State Industrial Farm Colony for Women. Some are there because they were reported for promiscuity by neighbors, husbands, strangers. Some were accused of prostitution. Others were just pretty and unmarried. Or poor and "suspicious." One was eating dinner alone in a restaurant. Another spoke to a soldier.

Josephine's sin was running a business as a single woman. Maude's was trying to drown her sorrows. Frances had lost her mind. Opal married a man with a mean streak. Some, like 15-year-old Stella, are brought in because they're victims of assault. She's too naive and broken to understand how unjust this imprisonment is.

Superintendent Dorothy Baker, convinced that she's transforming degenerate souls into upstanding members of society, oversees the women's medical treatment and "training" until they're deemed ready for parole. Sooner or later, everyone at the Colony learns to abide by Mrs. Baker's rule book or face the consequences--solitary confinement, grueling work assignments, and worse.

But some refuse to be cowed. Some find ways to fight back - at any cost...

"A remarkable fusion of research and imagination [with] vivid scenes, compelling characters, perfect pacing--but most impressive of all is Everhart's creation of Dorothy Baker. She is one of the most memorable characters I've read in recent fiction, and further proof of Donna Everhart's immense talent." --Ron Rash, award-winning author of Serena

Author: Donna Everhart
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation
Published: 01/27/2026
Pages: 368
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.40w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9781496740724


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 02/02/2026
Library Journal 10/01/2025 pg. 91

About the Author
Donna Everhart is a USA Today bestselling author known for vividly evoking challenges of the heart and the complex heritage of the American South in her acclaimed novels Women of a Promiscuous Nature, When the Jessamine Grows, The Saints of Swallow Hill, The Moonshiner's Daughter, The Forgiving Kind, The Road to Bittersweet, and The Education of Dixie Dupree. A finalist for the Southern Book Prize, she is the recipient of the prestigious North Carolina Society of Historians Award of Excellence, the SELA Outstanding Southeastern Author Award from the Southeastern Library Association, the Lucy Bramlette Patterson Award from the General Federation of Women's Clubs of North Carolina, and her novels have received a SIBA Okra Pick, a LibraryReads selection, two Indie Next Picks, and three Publishers Marketplace Buzz Books selections. Born and raised in Raleigh, she has stayed close to her hometown for much of her life and now lives just an hour away in Dunn, North Carolina. Please visit her online at DonnaEverhart.com.