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

4.0

Take My Hand is a riveting narrative inspired by true events, centering on Civil Townsend, a young Black nurse newly employed at the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic in rural Alabama. When Civil begins to question one of her assignments - providing birth control shots to two young Black girls - she stumbles onto a shocking truth, setting in motion a series of events that will change their lives forever.

Told in a first person narrative within dual timelines, the story is a compelling historical fiction illustrating one of the many horrific reproductive injustices that the American government has indicted on the Black community. Appallingly, the primary timeline takes place only a year after the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment.

While the book was generally well paced, I felt that the ending could have wrapped up sooner. Overall, this was a good book and an important story.