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Take My Hand


Genre: Historical / Contemporary


Book Type: Audio


Author: Dolen Perkins - Valdez


Narrator: Lauren J. Daggett


Pages / Length: 368 pages / 10 hours and 57 minutes


Publisher: Berkley (April 12, 2022) / Penguin Audio


Book Description:

Inspired by true events that rocked the nation, a searing and compassionate new novel about a Black nurse in post-segregation Alabama who blows the whistle on a terrible injustice done to her patients, from the New York Times bestselling author of Wench


Montgomery, Alabama, 1973. Fresh out of nursing school, Civil Townsend intends to make a difference, especially in her African American community. At the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic, she hopes to help women shape their destinies, to make their own choices for their lives and bodies.


But when her first week on the job takes her along a dusty country road to a worn-down one-room cabin, Civil is shocked to learn that her new patients, Erica and India, are children—just eleven and thirteen years old. Neither of the Williams sisters has even kissed a boy, but they are poor and Black, and for those handling the family’s welfare benefits, that’s reason enough to have the girls on birth control. As Civil grapples with her role, she takes India, Erica, and their family into her heart. Until one day she arrives at their door to learn the unthinkable has happened, and nothing will ever be the same for any of them.


Decades later, with her daughter grown and a long career in her wake, Dr. Civil Townsend is ready to retire, to find her peace, and to leave the past behind. But there are people and stories that refuse to be forgotten. That must not be forgotten.


Because history repeats what we don’t remember.


Inspired by true events and brimming with hope, Take My Hand is a stirring exploration of accountability and redemption.


Thoughts: While this was an incredible novel, I wish the Author's Note would have been at the beginning of the novel to let the reader know that this was inspired by actual events (Relf v Weinberger). I had known there were actual events that had inspired it, but her full note is a must read and will leave you furious.


This book was beautiful. It was frustrating, hard to read, maddening, heartwarming, loving and so many feels all rolled into one. It shared so many sides to a hot issue, while bringing about so much awareness and history. This book was incredibly moving and powerful and one of the best historical reads I've ever read.


*** I loved the voice of the narrator for the audio. ***


Favorite Quotes:

💉 You see, I'd believed in the mission of family planning clinics long before I applied to work in one. I knew that the rate of pregnancy in young unwed mothers in Montgomery was terrible. Earlier that year, the US Supreme Court had ruled that abortion was legal in certain circumstances, but Alabama had not yet caught up with the law. And even if safe hospital abortions had been made available, the procedure was expense and out of reach for most poor folks. The best solution had always been a prophylactic one. Although I refused to believe there was such a thing as an unwanted child, there was such a thing as an unwanted pregnancy - and I could speak to that firsthand. (page 14)


💉 Everything was lopsided. Volunteering their personal information was part of the bargain of public assistance. Tell us everything about yourself and, in return, we'll hand you a sliver of a slice of American pie. In the meantime, we won't tell you anything, not even what we're going to do for you. (page 51)


💉 Other than a little elevated blood pressure, I have very little in the way of aches and pains, thank the good Lord. But I accepted a long time ago that I lead a life of the mind. My body and its urges are secondary. It's easy to forget your own flesh when you are concentrated on other people's bodies. (page 129)


💉 "Our findings show that HEW;s numbers are grossly underestimated. Our research reveals that over the past few years, nearly one hundred fifty thousand low-income women from all over the nation have been sterilized under federally funded programs."

I put my hand over my mouth. All of this had happened under the government's watch. I didn't want to even try to guess the total number of underage sterilization victims. She'd mentioned 55 percent were teens in North Carolina, but now everything melted together in my head and all the numbers merged into one outraged thought: How dare they? Our bodies belonged to us. Poor, disabled, it didn't matter. These were our bodies, and we had the right to decide what to do with them. It was as if they were just taking our bodies from us, as if we didn't even belong to ourselves. (page 294)


Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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