Take My Hand

Winner of the 2023 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Fiction ΓÇ£Deeply empathetic yet unflinching in its gazeΓǪan unforgettable exploration of responsibility and redemption.ΓÇ¥ΓÇöCeleste 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 patientsfrom the New York Times bestselling author of Wench MontgomeryAlabama1973. Fresh out of nursing schoolCivil Townsend intends to make a differenceespecially in her African American community. At the Montgomery Family Planning Clinicshe hopes to help women shape their destiniesto 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 cabinCivil is shocked to learn that her new patientsErica and Indiaare childrenΓÇöjust eleven and thirteen years old. Neither of the Williams sisters has even kissed a boybut they are poor and Blackand for those handling the familyΓÇÖs welfare benefitsthatΓÇÖs reason enough to have the girls on birth control. As Civil grapples with her roleshe takes IndiaEricaand their family into her heart. Until one day she arrives at their door to learn the unthinkable has happenedand nothing will ever be the same for any of them. Decades laterwith her daughter grown and a long career in her wakeDr. Civil Townsend is ready to retireto find her peaceand 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 donΓÇÖt remember. Inspired by true events and brimming with hopeTake My Hand is a stirring exploration of accountability and redemption. ΓÇ£Highlights the horrific discrepancies in our healthcare system and illustrates their heartbreaking consequences.ΓÇ¥ΓÇöEssence