The release date for the English version of 'Take My Hand' by
Dolen Perkins-Valdez is Apr 2023. If you enjoy this novel, it is available for buy as a paperback from Barnes & Noble or Indigo, as an ebook on the Amazon Kindle store, or as an audiobook on Audible.
Recipient of the 2023 NAACP Image Award for Best Fictional Literary Work
"Deeply sympathetic, yet with an unwavering stare...a profound investigation of accountability and atonement.—Ng Celeste
A new book about a Black nurse in post-segregation Alabama who exposes a horrific injustice done to her patients, inspired by actual events that shocked the country, is a biting and heartfelt read from the New York Times bestselling author of Wench.
1973 in Montgomery, Alabama. Civil Townsend is determined to change the world, particularly in her African American neighborhood, now that she has graduated from nursing school. Her goal at the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic is to empower women to take control of their lives and make decisions about their bodies.
Upon arriving to a dilapidated one-room cottage along a dusty rural road during her first week of work, Civil is taken aback to discover that her new patients, Erica and India, are really youngsters, aged barely eleven and thirteen. The Williams sisters are poor and Black, which is sufficient justification for officials managing the family's welfare payments to put the girls on birth control—despite the fact that none of them has ever kissed a male. Civil adopts India, Erica, and their family into her heart even as she struggles with her duty. Nothing will ever be the same for any of them, she realizes as she walks at their home one day and finds out the unimaginable has occurred.
Dr. Civil Townsend is ready to retire, find her peace, and move on from the past now that her daughter has matured and she has had a long career. However, certain individuals and experiences are just not meant to be forgotten. We shouldn't overlook it.
Because what we forget is repeated throughout history.
Drawn from real-life experiences and filled with optimism, Take My Hand is a powerful examination of responsibility and atonement.
"Highlights the heartbreaking consequences of the horrific discrepancies in our healthcare system."Essential