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The biography is well told and was an interesting read. It gives insights into the different times that are covered throughout the life of Madame Restell.
This book is about the history of women's right to choice regarding her body and how cultures and views about abortion have changed over time. It's a story about a successful woman who was the leader in her industry.
The personal ending note from the author was fascinating and the points she raises about modern issues was meaningful and held interesting points.
The narrator did a great job on the audiobook.
This book is about the history of women's right to choice regarding her body and how cultures and views about abortion have changed over time. It's a story about a successful woman who was the leader in her industry.
The personal ending note from the author was fascinating and the points she raises about modern issues was meaningful and held interesting points.
The narrator did a great job on the audiobook.
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
I started this book in the fall in print but could not get into it. I really wanted to read it, however, so I tried the audio. I’m glad I persevered because I love books like this that relate a larger history through the story of the life of an individual. And the epilogue is fantastic.
Oddly, I still think I should have read this in print. There are lots of historical details that I’m sure I would have absorbed better by seeing the printed word.
Oddly, I still think I should have read this in print. There are lots of historical details that I’m sure I would have absorbed better by seeing the printed word.
This book has been on my hold list for a million years but at long last our library received its copies! This was a well-balanced read, filled with citations, context, and flow. Madame Restell was not the French medic that everyone had believed her to be, but instead your average abortionist who knew a good marketing scheme. With her stellar reputation and plenty of luck, Madame Restell grew to be NYC's most prominent abortionist in a time when women could vote or own property.
This is research at its finest. There is so little I knew about historical abortion and birth control practices. Of course there'd be some sort of pills, or some sort of herbs and powders. But a whale bone? Wow! Just thinking about it makes me cross my legs.
This is research at its finest. There is so little I knew about historical abortion and birth control practices. Of course there'd be some sort of pills, or some sort of herbs and powders. But a whale bone? Wow! Just thinking about it makes me cross my legs.
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Suicide, Medical content, Abortion, Pregnancy
Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Sexual content, Slavery, Blood, Medical trauma, Classism
dark
funny
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical content, Abortion
Moderate: Misogyny, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Classism
Minor: Alcohol
Madame Restell: The Life Death and Resurrection of Old New York's Most Fabulous, Fearless and Infamous Abortionist
by: Jennifer Wright
Hachette Books
Due July 2023
*****
A women the New York TImes has called "the wickest women in the world", was a successful businesswomen and immigrant, as well as an abortionist. Madame Restell began manufacturing and dispensing pill in New York City in the 1830's, after immigrating from the UK. The pills were given to help relieve liver ailments and stomach problems. She had no medical training and never studied medicine. Her popularity and demand drove a desperate women to inquire about a pill to induce an abortion. And so it all began. In the 1830's, an abortion done before the "guickening" ( about 20 weeks) was only a misdemeanor. After the "quickening", it was a felony. Women had just gained the right to keep her own property and income after marriage, and also the ability to decide if she wanted to keep her children and raise them, or send them to a wet nurse, or baby farm. Her abortion pills had very mixed reactions.
This fascinating and timely story brings up so many other important topics that are related. Adoption. Child Labor Laws. Child Healthcare Laws. Immigration. Know Nothing Movement. Nationalist Movement. Comstock Act. These issues surround a womens right to choose. The deep and extensive research and reading is evident and presented in a postiive and open manner. Engrossing and necessary, this is such a timely book.The rights of women and the rights of women to make decisions about their own bodies is an issue, again. Many girls will grow up thinking of themselves as second-class citizens, whose health and goals are less important to people in power, than her ability to breed. This book will make you think, consider and re-consider many important issues. Do we want to tell our daughters about that time in history, when we were her age and we owned our own bodies and made our own decisons?
An absolutely necessary, well written novel with many timely important topics.
Highly recommended.
Thanks to net galley and Hachette Book for sending this e-book ARC for fair review.
#netgally #MadameRestell
by: Jennifer Wright
Hachette Books
Due July 2023
*****
A women the New York TImes has called "the wickest women in the world", was a successful businesswomen and immigrant, as well as an abortionist. Madame Restell began manufacturing and dispensing pill in New York City in the 1830's, after immigrating from the UK. The pills were given to help relieve liver ailments and stomach problems. She had no medical training and never studied medicine. Her popularity and demand drove a desperate women to inquire about a pill to induce an abortion. And so it all began. In the 1830's, an abortion done before the "guickening" ( about 20 weeks) was only a misdemeanor. After the "quickening", it was a felony. Women had just gained the right to keep her own property and income after marriage, and also the ability to decide if she wanted to keep her children and raise them, or send them to a wet nurse, or baby farm. Her abortion pills had very mixed reactions.
This fascinating and timely story brings up so many other important topics that are related. Adoption. Child Labor Laws. Child Healthcare Laws. Immigration. Know Nothing Movement. Nationalist Movement. Comstock Act. These issues surround a womens right to choose. The deep and extensive research and reading is evident and presented in a postiive and open manner. Engrossing and necessary, this is such a timely book.The rights of women and the rights of women to make decisions about their own bodies is an issue, again. Many girls will grow up thinking of themselves as second-class citizens, whose health and goals are less important to people in power, than her ability to breed. This book will make you think, consider and re-consider many important issues. Do we want to tell our daughters about that time in history, when we were her age and we owned our own bodies and made our own decisons?
An absolutely necessary, well written novel with many timely important topics.
Highly recommended.
Thanks to net galley and Hachette Book for sending this e-book ARC for fair review.
#netgally #MadameRestell
Fascinating, entertaining, it brings the past to life in all its humanity and shocks in how similar things are to this day! Madame Restell is a riveting, complex and inspirational character for the ages!
A definite 4.5 for this lively, cinematic, informative social history that also sweeps across medical mores, the legal and penal systems, immigration, and the biography of this indomitable woman. Why not a 5? I'd like the author to trust her historical narrative enough to avoid sidebar commentaries with anachronistic slang. She certainly doesn't need any of that to make her point or tell a rip-roaring, broad history of 19th century New York.
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
sad
challenging
emotional
funny
informative
reflective
slow-paced