Join us in March to discuss Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez\, the 2026 KPL Read Together selection.
\nCopies of t he title will be available at the library 1-month prior to the meetup. Or\ , check Libby or Hoopla for a digital copy.
\ nAbout Take My Hand:
\"Inspired by true
events that rocked the nation\, a profoundly moving novel about a Black nu
rse in post-segregation Alabama who blows the whistle on a terrible wrong
done to her patients\, from the New York Times bestselling author of Wench
. Montgomery\, Alabama\, 1973. Fresh out of nursing school\, Civil Townsen
d has big plans to make a difference\, especially in her African American
community. At the Montgomery Family Planning Clinic\, she intends to help
women make their own choices for their lives and bodies. But when her firs
t week on the job takes her down a dusty country road to a worn-down one-r
oom cabin\, she's shocked to learn that her new patients\, India and Erica
\, are children-just eleven and thirteen years old. Neither of the William
s sisters has even kissed a boy\, but they are poor and Black\, and for th
ose handling the family's welfare benefits\, that's reason enough to have
the girls on birth control. As Civil grapples with her role\, she takes In
dia\, Erica\, and their family into her heart. Until one day she arrives a
t the door to learn the unthinkable has happened\, and nothing will ever b
e the same for any of them. 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. Because history
repeats what we don't remember\"--