REVIEW: Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

 

This was perfect for the Southern Literature Challenge as it takes place in Alabama, mostly. I had sadly never read a book by Ms. Perkins-Valdez even though she has two prior novels that came out in 2010 and 2015. This book was reportedly inspired by the prosecution of the former US Department of Health, Education and Welfare after it failed to protect young Black girls from involuntary sterilization in the wake of Tuskegee. In this novel, Civil Townsend is a 23 year old nurse in Montgomery, Alabama and she has two patients that she sees regularly - India and Erica who are 11 and 13.  They live in rural Alabama and are from a poor sharecropping family that lives in a one room shack with a dirt floor in the wake of their mother's death. The two girls are secretly sterilized under Civil's watch. 

The novel is deceptive in its simplicity.  Ms. Perkins-Valdez has researched the history of the area and the actual acts that form the center of the novel. I loved how Ms. Perkins-Valdez finally brings us the message that Black girls bodies have never been protected by the American experiment (honestly, it's shameful that it has taken so long  even though this book is an absolute gem).  I loved how the themes of justice, shame, redemption and racism are explored thoroughly. The characters themselves are amazingly developed as well.  I enjoyed getting to know them and accompany them on their journeys, difficult as they might be. 

Definitely a must read.