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\nPEOPLE can exclusively reveal the cover of Kate Schatz’s debut novel Where the Girls WereThe author and activist was inspired to write the novel after learning of her mom’s time in a home for unwed mothers”I hope to show what can happen when we are allowed to make our own decisions, and tell our own stories,\u201d Schatz says of the novel, which will be published in spring 2026<\/p>\n
When author and activist Kate Schatz was in her twenties, her mother told her she had a confession to share: In the 1960s, Schatz’s mom placed her first two babies for adoption, after she was sent to a home for unwed mothers.<\/p>\n
That story, as well as those of other women in similar circumstances, would become the basis for Schatz\u2019s forthcoming debut novel Where the Girls Were<\/a>, for which PEOPLE can exclusively reveal the cover.<\/p>\n Set in the summer of 1968, Where the Girls Were<\/a> follows Elizabeth \u201cBaker\u201d Phillips, a former valedictorian bound for Stanford University. After a night out on Haight Ashbury, Baker discovers that she\u2019s pregnant.\n<\/p>\n The cover of ‘Where the Girls Were’ by Kate Schatz.<\/p>\n The Dial Press<\/p>\n Suddenly, Baker\u2019s world turns upside-down, especially when her family sends her to a home for unwed mothers, where she lives with other pregnant girls facing similar judgement from those around them.\n<\/p>\n Baker, however, finds a newfound sense of community amongst her fellow residents \u2014 along with her own power and voice.\n<\/p>\n Schatz, who is also the author of the books Rad American Women A-Z<\/a>, as well as Do the Work: An Anti-Racist Activity Book<\/a>, which she cowrote with W. Kamau Bell<\/a>, notes how her first novel feels especially \u201cdire\u201d now, as the fight for reproductive rights continues in the United States.\n<\/p>\n The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThrough the stories of my protagonists and the girls she meets in the home, I hope to show what can happen when we are allowed to make our own decisions and tell our own stories,\u201d the author tells PEOPLE. \u201cWhen we resist being silenced, and when we insist on agency and empowerment, instead of obedience and shame.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Kate Schatz.<\/p>\n Lauren Pariani<\/p>\n Schatz also aims for the novel to pay tribute to the 1960s feminist movement and sexual revolution beyond the page.\n<\/p>\n