looking for jane a novel by heather marshall

I’m not very familiar with these parts of history, so it was really cool to step back several decades in time and see how the city may have been. I love that this story was set in Toronto, and that it featured familiar places like Ossington subway station and St Joe’s Hospital. The Jane network may be fictional, but the author’s afterword tells us many similar underground networks did exist before abortion was legalized. Angela’s investigation reveals that Nancy’s mother may be Margaret, who was Evelyn’s best friend at St. And in 2017, Angela and her wife are undergoing fertility treatments. Nancy uses their services in the 80s, then, in a desire to give back, becomes a volunteer Jane as well. The three characters’ stories converge around the theme of motherhood and women’s rights over their own bodies: In the 80s, Evelyn has grown up to be a doctor, and she and her nurse Alice become key members of the Jane network. After one such procedure sends Nancy’s cousin to the ER, Nancy learns that if a future need arises, they can simply “ask for Jane.” Jane is a codeword for an underground network of courageous women, including some doctors and nurses, who use legit medical knowledge and resources to provide safe abortions. Abortion wasn’t legalized in Canada until 1988 before then, many women were limited to underground, and often dangerous, means to end unwanted pregnancies. The lives of all three women intersect over the years, and the crux of the story lies in the Jane network. It follows the story of three women across three timelines: Evelyn Taylor in 1971, who was forced to give up her baby for adoption at St Agnes, a Catholic home for unwed mothers Nancy Mitchell in 1980, who learns she’s adopted, and that her parents have kept it secret all her life and Angela Creighton in 2017, who works at an antiques shop and discovers a letter from Nancy’s adoptive mother, mailed when she died in 2010. Looking for Jane is about motherhood, and women’s rights over our own bodies.

Looking for jane a novel by heather marshall