Alumni Bookshelf: Kelly E. Hill Publishes Debut Novel

March 18, 2024

Congratulations to Kelly E. Hill on the publication of her debut novel, A Home for Friendless Women, in March 2024 with prestigious New York City publishing house Vintage. This novel was at the core of Dr. Hill's dissertation project at UofL in the Humanities and grew out of research she conducted during an internship she held at the Filson Historical Society. Set in Victorian-era Louisville, the novel depicts the Home for Friendless Women run by benevolent benefactors with one mission: to reform the fallen women who live there into pious mothers and wives through religious lessons and hard work. For Ruth, a college student who’s expelled after a campus sexual assault, the Home is a purgatory to endure before she can get her life back. For Minnie, the daughter of the religious couple who founded the charity, the Home is her mother’s idea of a cautionary tale. But as Minnie prepares for the Home’s silver anniversary party, she finds herself questioning the true cost of good intentions—and grappling with a terrible secret that has the power to unravel the Home entirely.

During her time in the Comparative Humanities graduate program, Dr. Hill published short stories and articles in both literary and academic journals and delivered various lectures, including at the Conrad-Caldwell House Museum. She said, “I’ve been a creative writer for most of my adult life, but this book asked something new and challenging of me, and I have the Ph.D. program to thank for that." Besides her work as a creative writer, Kelly is currently teaching as a Part-Time Lecturer in the Comparative Humanities and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Departments.