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The Last Carolina Girl

The Last Carolina Girl

Historical FictionLiterary Fiction
Pages
336
Published
2023
Language
English

Synopsis

For fourteen-year-old Leah Payne, life in her beloved coastal Carolina town is as simple as it is free: a childhood spent running the wild stretch where the loblolly pines meet the shore, and a lumberjack father she adores who is her whole world. Then he is killed, and the ground drops out from under her.

Orphaned and uprooted, Leah is sent inland to relatives who see her not as a grieving girl but as a burden to be managed. Far from the sand and the sea, she slowly pieces together the truth of her fractured family, learning that the people meant to protect her can deceive and betray—and that the state itself has plans for girls like her.

Set in the long shadow of the Great Depression, Meagan Church's debut novel confronts one of the most shameful chapters in American medical history: the forced sterilization of the poor, the orphaned, and the so-called "unfit" under state eugenics programs. The Last Carolina Girl is a tender, clear-eyed story of a resilient girl's search for belonging, and of the fragile hope that endures even when family and country fail her.

Prose complexity
7/10

Vibe

EmotionalSadHopefulReflectiveMelancholic
Coming of AgeSurvivalBetrayalFamily Saga

Genres

Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Women's Fiction

About the author

M
Meagan Church

Meagan Church is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of emotionally-charged, thought-provoking fiction that explores the domestic lives, bodies, and thwarted ambitions of twentieth-century American women. Her novels include The Last Carolina Girl (2023), set in 1935 against the backdrop of North Carolina's newly formed eugenics board; The Girls We Sent Away (2024), which follows a college-bound girl sent to a home for unwed mothers during the 1960s Baby Scoop Era, and which was a...

Characters

Leah PayneProtagonist
All characters in The Last Carolina Girl

Frequently asked questions

  • Is The Last Carolina Girl based on a true story?

    The characters and plot are fiction, but the injustice at the novel's heart is not. The Last Carolina Girl is rooted in the real history of state-run eugenics and forced-sterilization programs that operated in the United States—and in North Carolina in particular—well into the twentieth century, targeting the poor, the orphaned, and those deemed "unfit." Leah Payne is invented; what happens to her happened to thousands of real people.

  • Is The Last Carolina Girl part of a series?

    No. It is a standalone novel and Meagan Church's fiction debut. Her later books—The Girls We Sent Away (2024) and The Mad Wife (2025)—are also standalone stories, though all three share her focus on women's inner lives and overlooked corners of twentieth-century American history.

  • When and where is the novel set?

    The story unfolds during the Great Depression, moving from the coastal pine forests and shoreline of Leah's Carolina childhood to the inland home of the relatives she is sent to after her father dies. The setting is central: the freedom of the coast and the confinement that follows mirror Leah's loss of control over her own body and future.

  • What content warnings does The Last Carolina Girl carry?

    The novel deals with the death of a parent, the abuse and neglect of a vulnerable orphaned child, and—most centrally—the trauma of forced sterilization carried out under state eugenics programs. It is an emotionally heavy read, handled with restraint rather than sensationalism.

  • Who will enjoy The Last Carolina Girl?

    Readers drawn to emotionally-charged Southern and historical fiction—stories of resilient girls, strong sense of place, and hard chapters of American history brought to light—will feel at home here. It suits book clubs especially well, offering plenty to discuss about bodily autonomy, family, and the people history leaves behind.