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Welcome Readers!<\/p>\n
Inspired by true events that rocked the nation, a searing and compassionate new novel about a Black nurse in post-segregation Alabama who blows the whistle on a terrible injustice done to her patients, from the\u00a0New York Times\u00a0bestselling author of\u00a0Wench<\/em><\/p>\n Montgomery, Alabama, 1973. Fresh out of nursing school, Civil Townsend intends to make a difference, especially in her African American community. At the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic, she hopes to help women shape their destinies, to make their own choices for their lives and bodies.<\/em><\/p>\n But when her first week on the job takes her along a dusty country road to a worn-down one-room cabin, Civil is shocked to learn that her new patients, Erica and India, are children\u2014just eleven and thirteen years old. Neither of the Williams sisters has even kissed a boy, but they are poor and Black, and for those handling the family\u2019s welfare benefits, that\u2019s reason enough to have the girls on birth control. As Civil grapples with her role, she takes India, Erica, and their family into her heart. Until one day she arrives at their door to learn the unthinkable has happened, and nothing will ever be the same for any of them.<\/em><\/p>\n Decades later, with her daughter grown and a long career in her wake, Dr. Civil Townsend is ready to retire, to find her peace, and to leave the past behind. But there are people and stories that refuse to be forgotten. That must not be forgotten.<\/em><\/p>\n Because history repeats what we don\u2019t remember.<\/em><\/p>\n Inspired by true events and brimming with hope,\u00a0Take My Hand\u00a0is a stirring exploration of accountability and redemption.<\/em> – Berkley<\/p>\n Looking for some other historical fiction titles? Try any of the following.<\/p>\n As always, check each of our locations for displays with lots more titles to choose from!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Welcome Readers! This month the Online Reading Challenge is focusing on historical fiction. Our main title for December is Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez. Here\u2019s a quick summary from the publisher: Inspired by true events that rocked the nation, a searing and compassionate new novel about a Black nurse[Read more]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[361,10,14,3371,5,1,8],"tags":[9635,9461,616,3395,9634],"class_list":["post-59029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio-books","category-books","category-library-news","category-online-book-challenge","category-read-a-likes","category-reference","category-staff-picks","tag-dolen-perkins-valdez","tag-genres","tag-historical-fiction","tag-online-reading-challenge","tag-take-my-hand"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd0CXx-fm5","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59029"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59055,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59029\/revisions\/59055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.davenportlibrary.com\/reference\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/take-my-hand.jpg?resize=200%2C303&ssl=1\")
<\/a>This month the Online Reading Challenge is focusing on historical fiction. Our main title for December is Take My Hand<\/em><\/strong> <\/a>by Dolen Perkins-Valdez. Here\u2019s a quick summary from the publisher:<\/p>\n\n