Unforgettable, heartbreaking, horrific, compelling read -Historical Fiction. Based on true events, in the 1970's, between 100,000 to 150,000 young, impoverished girls were sterilized without consent. The Author focuses on the life of the Relf sisters, age 12 and 14, mentally disabled, who's illiterate father and grandmother, signed an "X" unknowingly, consenting to their sterilization.
Civil Townsend, daughter of a physician, graduated nursing school and accepted a position at the Montgomery County Family Planning Clinic. Her instructions, to give monthly Depo-Provera shots to young girls to prevent pregnancy. Her first patients are India and Erica Relf who live in a one room cabin, dirt floor, no running water, with their Father, Mace Williams and Grandmother.
Civil is determined to make an impact on these girls' lives. She finds an apartment for them, enrolls them in school, assists their father in finding a better job, and also provides for their grandmother. Civil, who is single and has no children, is aware that she may be overbearing and overstepping her role, as their nurse in an attempt to improve their lives.
The girls, who's Mother recently died, relish the attention she provides. She takes them shopping, and essentially ingratiates them into her life. The family 'trusted' her.
Until, the day she arrives at the Williams door to discover the girls are at the local hospital and the girls have been surgically sterilized. Civil is unaware that they had been taken, and the procedure had been ordered.
Civil fights tirelessly, to get the word out about the injustices this family has endured, A young, white attorney, Lou Feldman. hears the story and takes the case from Montgomery Alabama to the Supreme Court. Civil graduates Medical School and becomes a Physician of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Decades later, Civil Townsend retells the story, noting in the first chapter, "A year never passes without me thinking of them, India, Erica. Their names are stitched inside every white coat I have ever worn. I tell this story to stitch their names inside your clothes too. A reminder to never forget."
This was a disturbing portrait of American history, that needed to be told. I appreciated the Author's efforts to humanize the story, through the lives of India and Erica, who "loved rag dolls and ice cream."
I will note this as a 5 Star Read however, its impact has been 'stitched' into my life as one of the most notable and unforgettable books, I have ever read.
Other Book by the Author:
Balm 2015
Wench 2011
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