A review by and_britt
Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

5.0

My Take: A historical fiction novel based on true events set in the 1970s, post-segregation, in Montgomery, Alabama. It’s a story of impoverished communities being taken advantage of by family planning clinics and the impacts of government services on minority groups. The author, Dolen Perkins-Valdez, did an amazing job researching and carefully putting together this story that is jaw-dropping, captivating and informative. Through the narrative of a female nurse, Civil Townsend, who graduated in the top of her class from Tuskegee University, begins working at a family planning clinic to help those who are in need of family planning. Her first two patients are two young girls aged 11 and 13 living in a “house” out in rural Alabama receiving birth control shots. As a reader, you are struck by the adolescents who are not at all sexually active, but are receiving these medical treatments. Be prepared to become attached to the family, Civil Townsend, and the impact of what this story has to tell you.