This was my first Leila Mottley and it won’t be the last. I’d heard wonders about her writing and her way of shining a light on some of the most neglected women in society, and after finishing The Girls Who Grew Big, I can see why her work resonates so much.
“The Girls Who Grew Big” is a novel of girlhood and of motherhood, of the sticky, oppressive reality of the American Bible Belt and the girls and young women who do the most they can to ensure that they and their children survive it. Following the perspectives of three single mothers, all aged between sixteen and twenty-two, this is a story filled with grit and beauty and love. The girls love their children, and they love each other. Imperfectly, sure; messily and loudly and achingly. They are, after all, so young, and most importantly they are so real. The small town in the panhandle where they run and drive and braid each other’s hair and cut each other down is so vividly painted, from the chlorine fumes of the pool to the dust by the road. Their voices are distinct and overlapping.
This is a novel of women who are often forgotten and spoken over in courtrooms and the air-conditioned chambers where the laws that shape their lives are written. Leila Mottley is unflinching in giving voice to their stories, the good living alongside the bad and the ugly. It’s just about impossible not to be moved by the closing chapters and the evolution of the girls’ bond. Adela, Emory, and Simone lodged themselves deeply in my heart and my mind as I read, and I hope they find a home in many more readers’ minds too.

This was an important and timely read, and I think the latter parts of the book were pretty strong.

My thanks to the author, NetGalley, and the publisher for the arc to review.

Leila Mottley’s novel about young mothers in a small town in Florida, is a celebration of an often vilified group of people. Mottley delves beyond the stereotype to create some unforgettable characters who are surviving and thriving against the odds. Dealing with poverty, prejudice and stigma, friendships are forged, support networks are made and broken; and lives are upended and reformed. This is a beautifully written novel that is both political (especially as the U.S. and Europe lurch to the right), and full of heart.

A beautiful story of young pregnant women who build on bonds between each other to endure the problems they have been dealing with.

Would definitely recommend this book.

In her new novel, Leila Mottley brings to life an unforgettable trio of teenage mothers – Adela, Simone and Emory – who, in the small town of Padua Beach, Florida, lean on one another while facing isolation, judgement, and the broken promises of the adults around them.

What stands out most is the strength of their solidarity: despite hardship, they create a chosen family, a haven of tenderness and resilience. Mottley captures with great sensitivity the paradox of adolescence and motherhood, balancing disillusionment with hope, steadfast friendship with painful betrayal.

A vivid, moving story – both raw and luminous – that dismantles stereotypes about young mothers while celebrating the power of female bonds.

Having enjoyed Nightcrawling, I was keen to check this out, and Mottley is once again able to present the voices of the young Black women we don't often hear from directly in fiction, and particularly to allow them to share their stories about what is so often misunderstood about their lives.

I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed the theme of pregnancy motherhood and womanhood throughout the book.

I was interested the whole time and loved seeing the relationship between the characters

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the arc

Once again Leila Motley has given us a novel about a social issue - this time teenage mothers. And this book is powerful and full of pain but also full of hope. Set in Padua Beach, Florida we meet the girls from the title - the girls who grew big. Simone is a Black girl whose parents forced out of her home when she became pregnant. She lives in the back of her boyfriend’s truck with her twins who are now 4. Emory is a white girl who has a baby boy by Simone’s brother. Although she lives with her grandparents, they won’t have her boyfriend in the house. She is clever and wanting to go to college, she attends schools with her baby in tow. Our final girl is Adela, a bi-racial girl from a wealthy family who send her to stay with her grandmother until she has had the baby and given it up. She is a swimmer who has the potential to be an Olympian. These girls form a bond and they become each other’s support - and not just these, other teen moms also stay in the truck with Simone. They become a found family. The town thinks harshly of these teen moms but these girls are tough. Through them you see them overcome the problems that are thrown at them because for them their children are everything, their children are life. The novel might be hard-hitting at times. These girls worry about everything from where they’ll sleep and what they will feed their children but there is optimism and hope within it. These girls might have been discarded by their families, the town but they have courage and resilience and they have each other and they have the back of Simone’s truck. I challenge anyone not to root for them.

Thanks to net galley and the publishers for an advanced ecopy, in exchange for a review.
I enjoyed this book , i really enjoyed the motherhood theme running through your especially as just become a mum myself in the last year. Loved the friendship the girls have built after essentially being outcast from the town due to becoming young mums,
The book looks closely as relationships , fathers both good and bad and family. I liked the writing and pace of the book with a good mix of characters. I will be recommending

The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 stars
Publication date: 10 July 2025

Thank you to Viking Books and Netgalley for providing me with an e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Adela is sixteen years old. When she tells her parents she's pregnant, they send her to her grandmother’s in Padua Beach, Florida. There, Adela meets Emory, who has a baby of her own she brings to high school, and Simone, ringleader of “the Girls,” a group of teenage mothers who hang out with their growing brood in the back of her red truck. Before long they will find themselves on a collision course with one another.

I did not expect to enjoy this as much as I did, and in truth, I would have considered DNFing this in its first quarter if it hadn't been an ARC.
But, as I kept reading, it really took me by surprise; I became really invested in the fate of those three young women, and felt protective of them and frustrated with them in equal measures.
I thought the writing was great, and there are some really beautiful quotes along the way, although it can be a brutal and tough read in places. I really appreciated the author touching on motherhood, of course, but also the prejudices attached to teen pregnancy (and how the girls are the ones bearing the brunt of Society’s judgement), love, friendship, racism, community and family - both the one you come from and the one you create for yourself.
I would now love to get to Mottley's debut, Nightcrawling, sooner rather than later.

I found this an easy book to fall into, with a fresh, engaging voice and beautiful prose. Set in the panhandle of Florida, it follows a group of young mothers, each navigating their own challenges and the judgments that come with becoming a parent as a teenager. Mottley is unflinching in showing both the physical and societal toll these girls face, even as they dream of a better future for themselves and their children.

Told through the perspectives of three of the girls, each with a distinct and memorable voice, the story is especially compelling through Simone—an unforgettable force of nature. This is an enjoyable and emotional portrait of motherhood and sisterhood, full of grit, heart, and hope.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

The Girls Who Grew Big centres around a group of young women dealing with teenage pregnancy, motherhood, toxic relationships and difficult families in the Florida Panhandle.

Wow! What a book! I found this so eye opening and pulled me in from the start. I felt like we truly got to know each of the girls individually and also together as a group. I loved that we saw how they were there to support each other but most importantly, their children. It felt so well researched and so deep!

I’m not a mother myself but I felt like this book really brought about maternal feelings and how far a mother will go for their children.

I’d definitely recommend this book!

*Thank you so much to Yazmeen @Penguinrandomhouse for this arc!

I read Mottleys debut novel, Nightcrawling, a few years ago and absolutely loved it. It was so beautifully written and the characters were incredibly developed. I was very excited to be gifted an early copy of her newest book.

Adela is 16 years old and pregnant, he parents have banished her from Indiana and sent her to live with her grandmother in Padua Beach, Florida. After Driving she meets Emory, who has a newborn in school. Emory introduces her to the girls, a group of young mothers who have been outcast from the town and raise their brood in the back of Simone's red truck. However, after bringing in Adela as a new girl and Simone finding herself pregnant again the dynamics in the group change. Although everyone thinks the Girls have lost their way, really they have find the miracle of motherhood and unbreakable bonds between them.

This was an absolutely beautiful book. It was heartbreaking but also incredibly real. Much little Mottleys first novel you become so intwined in the characters story that they seem real and you are really hoping for a happy ending. I can't wait to see what they come out with next.

The Girls Who Grew Big is a radiant and powerful novel that explores motherhood, girlhood, and resilience with poetic grace. Leila Mottley brings raw emotion and lyrical beauty to the story of Adela and the fierce, unforgettable women she meets in Padua Beach. I was deeply moved by the bonds they formed, the strength they discovered, and the way they claimed space in a world that tried to shrink them. This is a story of growth, love, and becoming. I loved every page and gave it five stars.

Leila Mottley has done it again! Nightcrawling was absolutely incredible, especially since it was her debut novel at so young an age. But 'The Girls Who Grew Big' feels even more self assured and the cast characters more ambitions. I absolutely loved reading this book, the sense of foreboding throughout was both uncomfortable and made me desperate to read on. The book is set in the south coast of Florida and the descriptions made me feel like I was sticky with sweat and had sand between my toes. I felt such a strong sense of the character Simone, she was my favourite voice in the book and one that will stick with me for a long time. Delighted I got to read this book early, I adored it and would 100% recommend.

In a small Florida beach town, three teen mothers face challenges. Simone, who had twins at 16, serves as a role model. Amory, who got pregnant at 17, wrestles with her future. Adela, sent to live with her grandmother during her pregnancy, ultimately gives up her baby to focus on her swimming career. This book was really enjoyable!

The Girls Who Grew Big is blistering with heart, heat, and girlhood on fire. Leila Mottley has returned with her second book about teenage mothers who have been judged, abandoned and cast out to be forgotten in a small Florida panhandle town. Instead of giving up they band together and build their own village from nothing more than a flatbed truck and sheer determination.

This book is the definition of raw. It opens with a teenage girl biting through her own umbilical cord after giving birth to twins. It's gritty, sweaty, loud, tender and alive with prose that lands - you feel it in your chest. I loved this book. I love those girls. Messy, defiant, and real. I'm still on that beach with them, bass booming from the flatbed truck, a storm rolling in towards a village of teenage mothers with no roof.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC, these opinions are my own, and I will be shouting about them for a long time!

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my free digital ARC!
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Nightcrawling was a beautifully written, gut punch of a book, and Mottley’s second novel The Girls offers the same impact with a very different story and characters. Our main characters are Simone, Adela and Emory, all teen mothers in varying stages of motherhood/pregnancy. Pregnant teenagers are very much one of those social groups that everyone feels free to mouth off about - I don’t think I’ve ever read a book from this POV, and I definitely have my own prejudices to unpack. Mottley writes these girls with so much heart, and makes you realise how much scrutiny teen mams face because their pregnant belly or child is so in your face - but what about the boys and grown men who got them into that situation? Why is it only the girls subject to so much scorn? The Girls forces you to consider teen mothers beyond the fact of their young motherhood.
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Community is at the heart of this novel. With the rest of the world shunning them, the girls form their own family among each other. They share knowledge, food, money, care, love, always showing up for each other despite differences and spats. This book goes a long way to dispelling the idea that a young girl’s life is ruined if she gets pregnant. Obviously it’s not advocating underage pregnancy, but shit happens, access to contraception or abortion isn’t available to everyone. The Girls shows that these young women deserve compassion and chances to succeed as much as anyone.
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Beautifully written and poignant, definite recommendation!

We follow 3 girls in a small beach town in Florida. Simone who was 16 when she gave birth to twins in the bed of her pick up truck with only her 22 year old boyfriend around. Simone later became a role model for other girls who find themselves as teen moms in her town. Amory who at 17 got pregnant on purpose and didn't think through what it would do for her prospects of making something of herself and going to college. And finally Adela who wasn't from the town, but whose parents sent her to live with her grandmother for the duration of her pregnancy, before giving the baby up and returning to her life and her future swimming career.

None of the girl's lives go to plan but they have each other and the community they have built in spite of the shame placed upon them by those around them.

This novel was really beautiful. The exploration of motherhood, found family, sisterhood, and dealing with societal pressures. All the girls were flawed and so human, and while I have never been pregnant or have a child I could relate to them all so much. The writing was stunning, the pace flowed, the 3 perspective narration felt so natural. A wonderful and beautiful read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the UK publishers for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed my time with this book. If you enjoy found family, then you will likely enjoy this book. It's a deeper exploration of the topic and other issues such as women's right and racism, but the characters are it's greatest strength.

It doesn't have a wild plot, but I enjoyed what was there. And I was worried it would rip my heart out, but it was actually quite heart warming. I would recommend.