take my hand dolen perkins valdez reviews

She followed that bestseller with Balm, set in the days following the Civil War, an exploration of the lingering trauma of the War and the end of slavery as the citizens of a bitterly divided nation worked to heal and reunite. Her first novel, Wench, examined the moral complexities of slavery through the stories of four enslaved Black women in the years preceding the Civil War.

In that capacity, she visits public high schools in the District of Columbia to talk about the importance of reading and writing. She serves as an Associate Professor in the Literature Department at American University and is Chair of the Board of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation.

That must not be forgotten.īecause history repeats what we don't remember.Īuthor Dolen Perkins-Valdez holds a Bachelors of Arts degree from Harvard College and earned her PhD at George Washington University. But there are people and stories that refuse to be forgotten. Civil Townsend is ready to retire, find peace, and leave the past behind. and nothing will ever be the same for any of them.ĭecades later, with her daughter grown and a long career in medicine in her wake, Dr. But one day she learns the unthinkable has happened. Neither of the Williams sisters has even kissed a boy, but they are poor and Black, and for the officials handling the family's welfare benefits, that's reason enough to have the girls on birth control.Īs Civil grapples with her role as their nurse, she takes India, Erica, as well as their father and grandmother, into her heart. At the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic, she intends to help women make choices about their lives and bodies.īut when her first week on the job takes her down a dusty country road to a worn-down one-room cabin, she's shocked to learn that her new patients, Erica and India, are just thirteen and eleven years old. Fresh out of nursing school, Civil Townsend has big plans to make a difference, especially in her African American community. Inspired by true events, take my hand is the story of a Black nurse in post-segregation Alabama who blows the whistle on a terrible wrong done to her patients.

Take my hand dolen perkins valdez reviews