Looking for Jane
A Novel
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4.3 • 116 Ratings
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- $18.99
Publisher Description
For readers of Joanna Goodman and Genevieve Graham comes a masterful debut novel about three women whose lives are bound together by a long-lost letter, a mother’s love, and a secret network of women fighting for the right to choose—inspired by true stories.
Tell them you’re looking for Jane.
2017
When Angela Creighton discovers a mysterious letter containing a life-shattering confession in a stack of forgotten mail, she is determined to find the intended recipient. Her search takes her back to the 1970s when a group of daring women operated an illegal underground abortion network in Toronto known only by its whispered code name: Jane...
1971
As a teenager, Dr. Evelyn Taylor was sent to a home for “fallen” women where she was forced to give up her baby for adoption—a trauma she has never recovered from. Despite harrowing police raids and the constant threat of arrest, she joins the Jane Network as an abortion provider, determined to give other women the choice she never had.
1980
After discovering a shocking secret about her family history, twenty-year-old Nancy Mitchell begins to question everything she has ever known. When she unexpectedly becomes pregnant, she feels like she has no one to turn to for help. Grappling with her decision, she locates “Jane” and finds a place of her own alongside Dr. Taylor within the network’s ranks, but she can never escape the lies that haunt her.
Weaving together the lives of three women, Looking for Jane is an unforgettable debut about the devastating consequences that come from a lack of choice—and the enduring power of a mother’s love.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Marshall's sweeping debut follows series of Canadian women in their struggles for reproductive autonomy. In a Toronto antique store in 2017, Angela Creighton, who's suffered a second miscarriage, discovers an undelivered letter addressed to Nancy Mitchell. It was written by Nancy's mother, Frances, who confesses as she's dying that in 1961 Nancy had been adopted from St. Agnes's Home for Unwed Mothers. As an adoptee connected with her own birth mother, Angela decides to track Nancy down and pass along the information. Marshall then moves back to 1979, when Nancy, a college student, helps her cousin obtain an illegal abortion. Only after her cousin nearly dies does Nancy learn about the underground abortion access network called Jane. Two years later, Nancy requires Jane's services for herself, and she believes so strongly in Jane's mission that she volunteers as an organizer until abortion is legalized in 1988, work she keeps secret—along with her own termination—from her new husband. Marshall vividly brings to life the dangers involved with operating Jane and the cruelty of the nuns running St. Agnes's, where Evelyn was forced to give up her baby. It's a page-turner that unfortunately falters with an unnecessary, gimmicky twist involving two of the women. Still, readers will be moved by the courage and thoughtfulness with which these characters face their dilemmas.
Customer Reviews
Keeps your Attention the whole way
This is one of the best books I have read in a very long time. I highly recommend