Take My Hand

Firstly, I live in Alabama. When this book quotes Alabama as the “Bible Belt”, I feel that saying. I live that saying. Where I live, you can not drive more than 2 miles without passing a church. This does not bring me confort.Anyone who knows anything about Alabama’s history knows that she has come along way, but her scars run deep, and many of her wounds are still present, infected, and raw. I am great ful for the healing she has undergone over the many decades, but I fear she will always be sick during my lifetime.I feel oppression nearly everyday here, but I do not feel it because I am poor, I do not feel it because I am illiterate, and I certainly do not feel it because of the color of my skin.I wish this book would replace To Kill a Mockingbird as mandatory reading in our public schools. I feel like it’s more relatable, more engaging, and it lingers with you well beyond the closing arguments.The characters in this story are fictional, but the stories are real. The events it discusses happened. Like many things in America’s history, they are shameful, embarrassing, outrageous, disgusting, and heart breaking.The events discussed in the pages of this book are not taught, discussed, or spoken about enough, and they need to be. What are we afraid of? Why are we not having these discussions? This book does not try to gloss over the ugliness or the harm done to the innocent beings, or the harmful impact it has on those it affected.If you belong to a book club that does a historical fiction theme or a black history month, recommend it. If you have any influence on required readings in high school, suggest this.But first read it for yourself, and take your time in doing so. Take notes, highlight passages, conduct your own research.Recommend it to a friend, family member, or acquaintance.

Wow. I was not expecting that. This book made me feel all of the emotions. I cannot believe that we had issues with forced sterilization not that long ago. It brings to light a history that I was not aware of.This book is heartfelt and honest. I will bring you through all the emotions. You will ove some characters and hate some characters. It talks about oppression in AL in the 1970's and was an eye opener to me.This nurse, Civil Townsend, wants to do good things in the world. She became a nurse to help people and she is asked to do things that compromise her integrity. It is a story of struggles, love, friendship, and our failed legal system.I highly recommend that everyone read this book. It sticks with you long after you have closed the cover.Quotes I enjoyed from the book:"In the funk the had left in my nose, I could barely breathe.""So you decided to become a nurse to turn the world right-side-up again."

Take My Hand is a deeply moving, emotional, and inspiring journey of the heart that brought me to tears. It’s really shocking that I never knew about this and that it was enforced by our own government. There’s so much important and heartbreaking history in this book and it deserves to be heard. This is loosely inspired by true events from a 1974 case regarding the irreversible injustices done to government-assisted women and girls, the majority being of color.This story is told in two time periods, 1973 and 2016, with main character Civil Townsend now in her 70’s writing this to her 23-year-old adopted daughter.In her early 20’s, Civil’s resilience fighting against everything she’s been told to accept at her workplace, the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic, is brilliantly told here. It also tells of her clients, young girls Erika and India, and how Civil became very attached to that family. Although this book is especially sensitive with many content warnings, I do highly recommend it. 5 stars — Pub. 4/12/22

Civil Townsend , a young black woman works as a nurse in the rural South attending to young black woman in a clinical setting. Her first off site case was to give birth control shots to two young girls named India who was mute and Erika. Erika was experiencing her period while India was not. The girl’s home life was absolutely disgusting as they lived in a shanty with their grandmother & father.This book time travels between 1923 Montgomery, Alabama and present day Alabama.. Alicia, another nurse colleague of Civil’s meets up with Civil at Regent Café in Alabama where Dr King & his church members met to talk strategy in regards to civil rights. Alicia & Civil discuss their lives as well as their current case loadsThis book was absolutely one of the most thought provoking, kindle inducing throwing anger book that I’m so glad I read

Well written, intriguing story entwined with history that should never be erased. Characters are endearing & memorable, giving me motivation to continue to fight for reproductive rights for all women.

I learned about sterilization of the poor, disabled, mentally deficient. I also liked the characters; they were believable. It was not a great book but was informative and an enjoyable read.

This book had me with Nurse!Just imagine Perkins-Valdez, Harriet A Washington, and Jodi Picoult getting together and writing a book.This book told of the illegal tragedies that transpired in the early 70's, and how "WE" as Black Americans aided in those tragedies .Sometimes doing what's right, actually is doing what's wrong.Perkins-Valdez will make you question yourself in so many ways.What would you have done?Would you have actually done anything different?Truly a book that leaves room for many thought provoking conversations.

I found this book to be eye-opening. It is a work of fiction, but it is based loosely on the real-life case of Relf v. Weinberger. In 1973 Minnie Lee and Mary Alice Relf were sterilised without consent when they were aged 12 and 14. This happened in Montgomery, Alabama and was conducted by a federally funded agency. A court case ensued, and this case was a pivotal moment in the history of reproductive injustice, it is also the year when Roe v. Wade was introduced. A year before this happened black men were left untreated for syphilis in a study at Tuskegee (information taken from the authors note).The character Civil in this book is a fictional character, who is a nurse, who works at a federally funded clinic who learns that two of her child patients, Erica and India, have been given a contraceptive drug that is not tested and then when she stopped giving it to them, for fear of the side-effects, they were taken to a hospital without her knowledge and forcibly sterilised. The book is both set in 1973 when the sterilisation took place, and 2016 when Civil returns to Montgomery to visit India, who now has cancer.I am glad I read this book, it brings to life what was happening in the 1970’s in America and it felt a timely read given how Roe v. Wade has just been overturned. The story is told in a sensitive way but does not shy away from the horror of forced sterilisation on children. I am grateful to Dolen Perkins-Valdez for writing this book, its unforgettable.

I had not heard of Dolen Perkins-Valdez before but I came across this book as it had such amazing reviews. The subject matter seemed interesting to me and when the Kindle version dropped to 99p, I couldn’t resist it.The book’s main character is Civil Townsend. We join Civil as a young nurse who works at a federally funded clinic in 1973 in Alabama where she is assigned two child patients, Erica and India. The girls have been given a contraceptive drug that is not tested and when Civil stops giving it to them, for fear of the side-effects, there are sad consequences, consequences that Civil blames herself for. The book is set in 1973 when Civil met the girls and 2016 when Civil returns to Montgomery to visit India, who now has cancer.I was immediately immersed into Civil’s world. The conditions of the girls and the treatment of people during those times felt real to me. The writing is excellent and the story flows well although the pace felt a little bit slow at times and there were periods where I felt like not a lot happened. I would have liked to have heard from Erica and India, I think it would have been fascinating to have the story from their point of view. I liked Civil but I felt that the girls' voices deserved to be heard and their characters more fully developed. There was also a brief suggestion of a romantic connection between two characters that I found strange and irrelevant.Overall, this is a fascinating novel based on real historical events that is well written and touches on issues of race, sex and class and the struggle for justice. It is also a novel about a young black woman finding her identity, her conscience and her place in the world. It is moving and full of heart and I look forward to reading more by Dolen Perkins-Valdez.

I really struggled with how to rate and review this book. I powered through it, turning the pages at a rapid pace. The story had me hooked but horrified. I’m grateful to Dolen Perkins-Valdez for bringing this utterly shameful history to my attention as I was completely unaware that crimes like this took place. But although I loved the story, I struggled to connect with the characters. I know that sounds bizarre considering how emotive the story is, but I wanted more from the characters who, aside from Civil, felt a little one dimensional. For me this story belongs to the twins, Erica and India. I would have loved to have gotten at least some of the story from their point of view but instead it is told from the perspective of the twin’s nurse, Civil. I liked Civil but the twin’s voice deserved to be heard and their characters fully developed. There was also the suggestion of a romantic connection between two characters (no spoilers!) that I found strange. There was no real substance to it, and it didn’t contribute to moving the story forward. However, I would still recommend people read this book. Everyone should know these crimes took place not that long ago.

All these reviews have said what I would have said. It is as moving as A Little Life but much shorter and much more restrained and focused. A lesser writer (or someone without editorial advice perhaps) would have added whole sections and information that are not really pertinent at all (eg Civil going to college).Enough that we know it from the context and what is said later, leaving the tension of the story uninterrupted. Again, on the writing, it does move backwards and forwards in time but this adds to the tension and no way confuses.

This is a novel based on real historical events: the unlawful sterilisation of thousands of poor, mostly black, women and girls by the US government. It is beautifully written and touches on issues of race, sex and class and the struggle for justice. But it is also a novel about a young black woman finding her identity, her conscience, her place in the world. Moving and full of heart, it is profoundly sad and uplifting.