By Peggy Arthur
Greetings!
This novel stirred so much inside me. It reminded me that women’s rights have been restricted for generations. That what remains undiscussed in the home is most certainly not taught in schools. So where, when, and from whom do we learn these hidden truths? We learn from courageous authors unafraid to share the truth and uncover the past, authors like Dolen Perkins-Valdez.
Set in 1973 Montgomery, Alabama, the birthplace of the civil rights movement, a town thick with history and unhealed wounds. Take My Hand pulled me in from the very first page. I went to undergrad at Tuskegee University, and the main character is also a Tuskegee graduate herself. That connection hit me deeply.
The story follows Civil Townsend, a young nurse eager to make a difference. Fresh out of nursing school, she believes her work will empower her community. But very quickly she is confronted with painful realities: how power operates, how silence wounds, and how speaking the truth, even when it’s difficult, becomes a form of healing.
Not to reveal too much, but the novel is based on the real lives of two young Black girls in Montgomery who were sterilized without consent. The youngest hadn’t even started her period. They had never had sex. They were told they were being taken in for Depo-Provera shots. But the truth was something far more violent.
Their father and grandmother could not read, and when handed documents to sign, they didn’t know they were giving permission for a procedure that would forever alter the girls’ futures. They believed they were protecting them, not surrendering their reproductive rights.
And all of this happened in Montgomery, the same city where Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat. Where the Montgomery Bus Boycott shifted a nation. Where Black resistance and Black pain have always existed side by side.
This novel isn’t just about what happened to those girls. It’s about how power tries to control women’s bodies. Poor Black women and children weren’t alone in this struggle. Perkins-Valdez not only entertains, but she also educates, opening our eyes to an immoral past many of us may have never considered.
✨ What makes this book so powerful are the themes woven through every chapter:
- Reproductive justice and bodily autonomy — who gets to decide what happens to our bodies?
- Systemic racism in healthcare — how institutions have failed Black families.
- The burden of silence and complicity — and the courage it takes to break that silence.
- Memory, truth-telling, and reckoning — how remembering becomes resistance.
- The intersection of race, gender, and class — showing the layered vulnerabilities that persist.
This isn’t just a story. It’s a history lesson. A reckoning. You can feel, see, and hear the research Dolen Perkins-Valdez put into every page. The book doesn’t just tell you what happened, it makes you confront it.
“We are all of us sacred. No matter the circumstances of our birth, no matter the color of our skin, no matter our ability to bear children. We are not experiments. We are not yours.”
— Take My Hand, Dolen Perkins-Valdez
🪵 This is why I created Rooted Reads to spotlight books that dig into generational memory, truth, and reclamation. Books grounded in place and spirit. Take My Hand is all that and more.
🌱 Let’s Talk:
Have you read Take My Hand? What was your experience with it? Share your thoughts in the comments—I’d love to hear them.
📖 And don’t forget: You can also read an exclusive excerpt from my upcoming novel The Pretender’s Game and subscribe to my author newsletter for updates and behind-the-scenes looks.
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Peggy Arthur 