Jennifer W

Perkins-Valdez knows how to weave a captivating story into serious social issues. Set in the early 1970s a young nurse takes on the battle against forced sterilization. Idealist Civil, privileged daughter of a Black physician, lands her first professional job at a family planning clinic in the Deep South. Motivated in part by her own guilty secret, Civil rushes in only to create more complications. Using fluent time shifts to tell the story, the author develops Civil's complex personal life and the campaign to halt government control over reproductive rights, especially those of Black women and those with few resources. This expertly written historic novel will magnetize readers interested in civil rights and strong intelligent female characters.