Madame Restell

I loved this book for the absorbing way in which Jennifer Wright pulled me into the fabulous and, quite frankly, improbable life of one of America’s least-known abortion advocates. The narrative arc is brilliant, and I was fascinated by the quirks and details that Wright used to bring Restell to life—eccentricities, foibles, and all.

This book is a must-read for anyone trying to understand the origins of the war on reproductive rights that we see unfolding today and for anyone who’s not convinced that reproductive and economic rights are inextricably linked.

An old story retold in modern language can be fun; I know because I  highlighted so many sections of this book on my e-reader that I nearly wore out a finger.

This book breezily recounts the eventful life of Madame Restell, who boldly provided women with abortions in the mid-nineteenth century even as the legal noose tightened around her. I laughed out loud as the author described Restell’s “go-to” gown for her trial appearances. Not even Julian Fellowes could make history feel more immediate.

I read this book for research for a speculative fiction series I’m still writing. By the time this is published, I’ll have written three of the four books.

One of the issues in my book is abortion during the Gilded Age so I read this to find out what happened before then. And then, Roe v. Wade was overturned by this irresponsible Supreme Court—activate feminism immediately, do not pass Go, do not collect $200. I was outraged, and I still am.

Women, because of our bodies, are once again under the legal gun for no reason other than that we… show more.