Beyond the Library Book Discussion

Read & discuss Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez.

Inspired by true events that rocked the nation, a profoundly moving novel about a Black nurse in post-segregation Alabama who blows the whistle on a terrible wrong done to her patients.

Montgomery, Alabama 1973. Fresh out of nursing school, Civil Townsend has big plans to make a difference, especially in her African American community.

But when her first week on the job at a family planning clinic takes her to a worn-down one-room cabin, she’s shocked to learn that her new patients are children—just 11 and 13 years old. Neither of the Williams sisters have even kissed a boy. So why are they receiving birth-control shots? 

Books are available one month before the discussion. This book discussion takes place at Fox & Turtle Restaurant. Registration is required.

• e-Book & e-Audiobook available on Libby