Take My Hand
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4.4 • 314 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Winner of the 2023 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work - Fiction
“Deeply empathetic yet unflinching in its gaze…an unforgettable exploration of responsibility and redemption.”—Celeste Ng
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.
“Highlights the horrific discrepancies in our healthcare system and illustrates their heartbreaking consequences.”—Essence
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Perkins-Valdez (Balm) captivates with a scintillating story about Black women's involuntary sterilizations in 1970s Montgomery, Ala. Civil Townshend lands her first nursing job after graduating from Tuskegee University at the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic, where she is instructed to administer the experimental Depo-Provera birth control shot to homebound sisters India and Erica Williams, ages 11 and 13, who live with their sharecropper father in a ramshackle, one-room house. Civil has reservations about giving the shots to her young patients, and her white supervisor later blindsides Civil by ordering the girls to be sterilized after their illiterate father approves the procedure. Civil is mortified and, with the aid of her best friend Tyrell Ralsey, whose parents are lawyers, sets in motion a lawsuit against the clinic. A young, white civil rights lawyer shoulders the case, and the suit expands to include the federal government. Meanwhile, the author movingly explores Civil's passion for reproductive rights, shaped in part by her decision to abort a pregnancy with Tyrell. The medical field's unjust and exploitive treatment of Black people has been covered in the landmark nonfiction titles such as Medical Apartheid by Harriet Washington and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, and Perkins-Valdez skillfully adds to the literature with a nuanced story personalized by Civil's desire for redemption over her role in the sterilizations. This will move readers.
Customer Reviews
Better than I thought
I liked this book more than I thought I would. I am learning that historical fiction is one of my favorite genres. The story is centered around Civil Townsend who is a like a planned parenthood nurse from a well to do family working in Montgomery, AL during the early 70s. She has become fascinated with one family of patients the Williams, that include two young girls on birth control, and clearly oversteps the boundaries of nurse and patient. Civil is recounting the story to her adopted daughter of how she and her friends suspect the birth control drug they administering to patients as young as 11 is harmful. It amazing to me the lack of medical ethics and blatant racism the government inflicts on those who are poor, black or disabled.
Two things are striking to me in this story, first is Civil and the fact that she is starving for affection but insist on punishing herself because of her own reproductive decision, and that is takes her 40+ years to open her heart to love again.
Second, is how so much of a woman’s happiness has been historically connected to being a wife and motherhood, it’s heartbreaking to read a 13 year old believing she will never be happy because motherhood is impossible for her. Considering the book was really a thought provoking read I give it four stars
Great Read
I've discovered that I love books that go between different era's. The message in this book was alarming but not surprising, but overall very well executed. I'm only giving four stars because the slightly steamy moments left me wanting more and I was disappointed when the flame kind of sizzled.
Beautiful and heatbreaking
This book should be required reading. Heartbreaking. Beautifully written.