Home for Erring and Outcast Girls by Julie Kibler

This story is based on a real couple who started a shelter to keep so called fallen women with their babies and help them get back on their feet to survive on their own or stay at the home. The story centers on Mattie, trying to find medical help for her young son, and Lizzie, the young mother who helps comfort Mattie when her son dies shortly after arriving at the home. The story alternates between past and present when a librarian uses the archived journals of these fallen women to help her confront her own troubled past.
I liked reading about this actual home that helped support women instead of sending them away in shame to deliver their babies in secret and force them to give them up. And even in the present, rape victims are often blamed or doubted while their rapists escape punishment. This was a very emotional and heartbreaking story.