Winner of the 2023 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work - Fiction Deeply empathetic
yet unflinching in its gaze an unforgettable exploration of responsibility and redemption.
Celeste Ng Inspired by true events that rocked the nation a searing and compassionate new
novel about a Black nurse in post-segregation Alabama who blows the whistle on a terrible
injustice done to her patients from the New York Times bestselling author of Wench Montgomery
Alabama 1973. Fresh out of nursing school Civil Townsend intends to make a difference
especially in her African American community. At the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic she
hopes to help women shape their destinies to make their own choices for their lives and
bodies. But when her first week on the job takes her along a dusty country road to a worn-down
one-room cabin Civil is shocked to learn that her new patients Erica and India are children
just eleven and thirteen years old. Neither of the Williams sisters has even kissed a boy but
they are poor and Black and for those handling the family s welfare benefits that s reason
enough to have the girls on birth control. As Civil grapples with her role she takes India
Erica and their family into her heart. Until one day she arrives at their door to learn the
unthinkable has happened and nothing will ever be the same for any of them. Decades later
with her daughter grown and a long career in her wake Dr. Civil Townsend is ready to retire
to find her peace and to leave the past behind. But there are people and stories that refuse
to be forgotten. That must not be forgotten. Because history repeats what we don t remember.
Inspired by true events and brimming with hope Take My Hand is a stirring exploration of
accountability and redemption. Highlights the horrific discrepancies in our healthcare system
and illustrates their heartbreaking consequences. Essence
