Looking for Jane (2022)

by Heather Marshall

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285	23	92,982	(4.03)	9
2017: When Angela Creighton discovers a mysterious letter containing a life-shattering confession, she is determined to find the intended recipient. Her search takes her back to the 1970s when a group of daring women operated an illegal underground abortion network in Toronto known only by its whispered code name: Jane. 1971: As a teenager, Dr Evelyn Taylor was sent to a home for 'fallen' women where she was forced to give up her baby for adoption - a trauma she has never recovered from. Despite the constant threat of arrest, she joins the Jane Network as an abortion provider, determined to give other women the choice she never had. 1980: After discovering a shocking secret about her family, 20-year-old Nancy Mitchell begins to question everything she has ever known. When she unexpectedly becomes pregnant, she feels like she has no one to turn to for help. Grappling with her decision, she locates 'Jane' and finds a place alongside Dr Taylor within the network's ranks, but she can never escape the lies that haunt her.… (more)

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Showing 1-5 of 21 (next | show all)

Very solid storytelling with good structure, well-paced and fully fleshed characters. (

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fionaanne | Jan 10, 2024 |

This book follows three women who are bound together by a long-lost letter, a mother’s love, and a secret network of women fighting for the right to choose—inspired by true stories.Clever and satisfying. (

)

janismack | Dec 20, 2023 |

Looking for Jane is an emotional roller coaster about motherhood and the choices women face while pregnant. It crosses several timelines, showing the inhumane treatment that some young girls faced when pregnant while single. It looks at the danger of poor medical care, and the homes that housed unwed mothers.
Reading this book made me sad for the women who underwent such treatment and for those that are facing difficult choices today, as to whether to carry a pregnancy to term.
The story also follows women who made a choice, willingly or not, and the consequences. It is also a story of a mother and daughter searching for each other.
Moving story. (

)

rmarcin | Nov 3, 2023 |

Although set in Canada, this story is especially relevant in the United States after the overturn of Roe v. Wade, which leads to untenable options for unwanted pregnancies. The timeline covers the early 1960s to 2017 for a variety of women. The homes for unwed mothers in the l960s meant family shame and often unwanted relinquishment of their babies for profit. We already have a broken foster care system, which is where too many children land when their parents cannot or will not be responsible for them. Now the burden is even heavier with unwanted children ending up in foster care.

This debut novel takes on difficult topics and the choices women make when abortions are illegal, often ending in death and infertility by unscrupulous abortionists. The courage evidenced by the doctors and volunteers who established the recourse for women to obtain legal, safe abortions in the "Jane" network is noteworthy then and now.

There is a memorable phrase in this book that would be a mantra in a perfect world - "Every child a wanted child, every mother a willing mother." (

)

pdebolt | Oct 11, 2023 |

*powerful, well-written book about the underground "abortion railroad" in the late 60s/early 70s
*reminded me of the Cold Case episode "Volunteers"
*very interesting storyline which kept my interest from cover to cover
*strong character development
*highly recommend (

)

BridgetteS | Sep 23, 2023 |

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RUSA CODES Reading List (Shortlist – Historical Fiction – 2024)

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Canonical title

Looking for Jane

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

2022

People/Characters

Angela Creighton

Evelyn Taylor

Nancy Eleanor Mitchell Birch (Jane)

Margaret “Maggie” Roberts

Tina Hobbs

(show all 15 items)

Important places

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

St. Agnes's Home for Unwed Mothers

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Important events

Related movies

Epigraph

Dedication

For R
A most wanted child to a most willing mother.

First words

It was a perfectly ordinary day when a truly extraordinary letter was delivered to the wrong mailbox.

Quotations

And she couldn't believe how stark the difference was between learning about this pregnancy versus her first. She hadn't been too concerned about her fertility, but discovered with no small measure of surprise, that there was a razor's edge in her life where she went from being terrified of getting pregnant to terrified of not getting pregnant. You could hardly fit a toothpick in the space between.

There is nothing like clearing out your dead mother's house to make you wonder whether you ever knew her at all.

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Harmel, Kristin

Davis, Fiona

Charles, Janet Skeslien

Stapley, Marissa

Keith, Ellen

(show all 7 items)

Original language

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▾Book descriptions

2017: When Angela Creighton discovers a mysterious letter containing a life-shattering confession, she is determined to find the intended recipient. Her search takes her back to the 1970s when a group of daring women operated an illegal underground abortion network in Toronto known only by its whispered code name: Jane. 1971: As a teenager, Dr Evelyn Taylor was sent to a home for 'fallen' women where she was forced to give up her baby for adoption - a trauma she has never recovered from. Despite the constant threat of arrest, she joins the Jane Network as an abortion provider, determined to give other women the choice she never had. 1980: After discovering a shocking secret about her family, 20-year-old Nancy Mitchell begins to question everything she has ever known. When she unexpectedly becomes pregnant, she feels like she has no one to turn to for help. Grappling with her decision, she locates 'Jane' and finds a place alongside Dr Taylor within the network's ranks, but she can never escape the lies that haunt her.

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Book description

'Just tell them you're looking for Jane...'

2017
When Angela discovers a mysterious letter containing a life-shattering confession in a stack of forgotten letters, she begins to look for the intended recipient. Her search takes her to the 1970s and 80s, when a group of daring women operated an illegal underground abortion network known only by its whispered code name: Jane . . .

1971
As a teenager, Dr. Evelyn Taylor was forced to give her baby up for adoption. Swearing she'll do everything she can to make sure other women have the right to choose, she joins the Jane Network to provide safe but illegal abortions. There, she crosses paths with Nancy, who was told that if she ever found herself 'in a position', she should ask for Jane. Nancy soon becomes the Network's newest volunteer, desperately trying to help others while family secrets threaten everything she knows to be true.

Over the years, Evelyn, Nancy, and Angela's lives intertwine to reveal the devastating consequences that come from a lack of choice, and the buried secrets that will always find a way to the surface . . .

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