Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Montgomery, Alabama. 1973. Fresh out of nursing school, Civil Townsend has big plans to make a difference in her community. She wants to help women make their own choices for their lives and bodies. But when her first week on the job takes her down a dusty country road to a tumbledown cabin and into the heart of the Williams family, Civil learns there is more to her new role than she bargained for. Neither of the two young sisters has even kissed a boy, but they are poor and Black, and for those handling their welfare benefits, that’s reason enough to have them on birth control. When Civil discovers a terrible injustice, she must choose between carrying out instructions or following her heart, and decides to risk everything to stand up for what is right.

Civil is a strong, warm and courageous character, a young woman who discovers within herself the capacity to fight and a determination to do the right thing. And I was completely invested in her story and that of Erica and India, the two girls in question, from the very beginning. Inspired by true events and a shocking chapter of recent history with themes that are still topical.  And whilst this is a novel about injustice and reproductive rights it is also a story of courage and conviction, love and determination and our ability to change the world.