Story of two "errant" women (former prostitutes, children born out of wedlock) who are taken in at a home at the turn of the century and the story of a woman in 2017 with a tortured past (rape, family did not support her) who works at a university library and is researching the home for errant women. Told alternatively. This started out really slow for me and I had a hard time getting into the story and the characters. The last half of the book was better and I liked how it all turned out. The home for errant women was a real place.