New novel sheds light on women imprisoned for "immorality"

Author Sheila O'Connor never met her maternal grandmother.

Nor did O’Connor’s mother know her own biological mother.

All they had was a dry, bureaucratic case file on the woman imprisoned for “immorality” in the early 20th century.

So, naturally, since O’Connor didn’t know her grandmother’s full story, she went ahead and wrote it.

Her novel, Evidence of V, is the tale of a talented fifteen-year-old singer in 1930s Minneapolis who’s sent to a state reform school for six years for the crime of being pregnant.

Intrigued? Read an interview that O’Connor did with NPR for more on the writing process and historical background.