This book is set in Canada, and follows 3 women in 2 timelines 1971 and 2017.

The story is about strong women and the choices they have. It it’s about motherhood and abortion.
It is a work of fiction but based on the Jane network which I had never heard of previously.

I enjoyed this book it was well written.

Looking for Jane is an emotional story about abortion and motherhood. Set in Canada, spanning three different timelines. We follow some young girls in a home for fallen women, experiencing the harsh and often barbaric rules set for them by the nuns. Dr.Evelyn Taylor gives is another timeline of her mission to give women the right to choose after she experienced her own traumas as a young woman having her baby taken away from her. Then we meet Nancy who initially seeks the Jane Network for herself but soon becomes a volunteer.

The Jane Network helps to provide safe but illegal abortions for those in need, you just need to ‘ask for Jane’ to get some help. Keeping this secret is paramount as they could all end up in jail for their deeds.

The third timeline is with Angela who finds a stack of letters including one which was obviously posted in the wrong box. She searches to find the intended recipient of the letter and discovers a 40-year-old, illegal, underground abortion network.

This is a compelling read whether you agree with abortion or not. It's also about what motherhood in the right circumstances can be like, it's not just a view of ‘everyone should have an abortion’ or babies are evil type work. It shows why safe legal abortions are an important provision for some and what having choices can provide.

A great achievement for Heather Marshall and a book that will stay with me for a long time.

Looking For Jane by Heather Marshall is a powerful story of strong women , inspired by real life events and more relevant today than the author could ever have imagined while writing it. The dual timeline moves between 1971 and 2017 and the story is told from the perspectives of three women - Nancy, Evelyn and Angela.
In 2017 Angela discovers an unopened letter in a stack of old mail found at her work, and when curiosity gets the better of her she opens it to find a heart shattering confession that sets her on a quest to find the original intended recipient. This quest will reveal how her story intertwines with those of Evelyn and Nancy, two women who were involved in the "Jane" network which helped to provide abortion services in Canada in the 1970s and 1980s which such procedures were illegal and doctors who provided them and women who availed of them risked imprisonment. As a young woman Evelyn was forced to spend her pregnancy in a brutal home for unmarried women run by the catholic church and then give up her baby for adoption. Inspired by her experience she became a doctor, and an active member of the network. Nancy first becomes aware of the network when her cousin almost dies as the result of an unsafe backstreet abortion, and later when she finds herself in a similar situation she meets Evelyn who helps her out, Keen to give back and to make sure other young women don't suffer like her cousin did , Nancy soon becomes a volunteer for the network, something that could cost her her marriage.
As you can imagine, the connections between some of the characters are not too hard to figure out , but the author does still try to surprise, which I personally felt the book did not need, the human connections were strong enough without the "twist" at the end. While much of the book is about abortion and access to services, there is also a real focus on motherhood and what it means, and I liked that this balance was there. The book is emotional, sometimes brutally so, so sensitive readers should beware before picking this up.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

This is a story not just about abortion it’s about motherhood too.
It’s also about the choices we have over our own body as women & our right as women not men to make that choice which is often forced upon us in more ways than one.
I found this to be a really interesting compelling read especially considering what’s just happened in America regarding the abortion law.
The story is set in Canada spanning three different time lines & although a work of fiction the author has done a great job regarding the historical facts surrounding it.
In the first time line we follow the stories of young girls & their terrible treatment in home for fallen women.
The rules set by the nuns are harsh & barbaric as even friendship is not allowed.
Disowned by their parents & feeling they are truly alone.
Our second time line involves Dr. Evelyn Taylor who is on a mission to give all women a right to choose as for many women motherhood is forced upon them.
As a teenager Dr Evelyn Taylor had no choices as they were taken away from her & she was forced to give up her child for adoption.
She joins the Jane network to help provide a safe but illegal abortion for those in need. There were many horror stories of those that had sought out back street abortion & the Jane network provided a safer option.
Keeping this secret was paramount as they could all end up in jail.
Her paths cross with Nancy who has sought out the Jane network for herself & then ends up becoming a volunteer for them.
Our third time line is with Angela who comes across a stack of letters & on closer inspection finds one that was obviously posted in the wrong box. The post mark is dated 10 years ago so after deciding the only way to know if it was important & find a way of delivering it to the recipient would be to open it.
From the letters contents it becomes imperative to Angela to find who the letter was intended for.
Her search takes her back over 40 years to to a time when a brave group of women operated an illegal underground abortion network.
This is a compelling read wether you agree with abortion or not.
In so many cases women need that choice as the with cases of rape, abuse, health or that bringing a child in to the world is not for you & you could not deal with giving a child up for adoption.
This book is not all about abortion it is definitely about motherhood too & the joy of having a very wanted baby.
We as women all have very different views on this subject but that is as it should be.

Spanning over many timelines and characters the book focuses centrally on abortion, it is fictional based on historical facts around abortion. It looks at young mothers to be, unmarried, no father for multiple reasons and the home for these "unfortunates" and the nuns that "care" for them.

We go through the horrors women face because abortion is illegal at one of the timelines and what they go through, in detail at points, protests. We also look at motherhood, the impact is has when it is thrust upon you, when you have a partner, when you don't. Options available to women back then or lack of and how one woman's experience drives her to "Looking for Jane".

The book is graphic, brutal, emotive and heartbreaking at points. It has been well researched and multiple links and info available for the reader when they finish.

You don't realise how lucky you are (general you) in the healthcare and options we have as modern day females. That said what is going on in America with the abortion laws really brings a lot of this home just how scary it truly is and the risk women are yet again going to put at. A book that gives pause for thought, 4/5.

Looking for Jane is a multi-timeline historical novel spanning five decades.

The first timeline follows several teenage girls in a home for fallen women. They are subjected to horrific treatment and forced to give up their babies for adoption. Two of the girls form a close bond, despite rules expressly forbidding the forging of friendship, and it isn't long before they are formulating a plan to escape with their newborns.

The second timeline is that of Nancy, who finds herself in need of the Jane network when everything she thought she knew about herself is suddenly cast into doubt. Determined to do her bit to help other women in need, Nancy joins the network and soon finds herself in the thick of the action.

The last timeline is set in the present day and focuses on Angela, who one day happens upon a life-changing letter. Torn between doing what is right for her and what is right for the letter's intended recipient, Angela faces a difficult decision and a long journey ahead.

As there are so many different strands to the story, it can get confusing quite quickly if you aren't careful! I started reading the book late at night and got thoroughly mixed up, ending up having to reread it the next day when my mind was clearer. However, as you progress through the book and familiarise yourself with all the key characters, it's much easier to follow each different plotline.

The key element that links all three timelines is the Jane network. For various reasons, each character is involved in the network and is 'looking for Jane'. Their individual stories are carefully woven together with plenty of twists and turns!

Immersive and engaging, Looking for Jane is an emotionally-charged tale of adoption, love and loss, and a vital yet little-known part of North America's recent history. It's well worth a read - and given the events currently going on across the pond, arguably more relevant now than ever before.

The right to choose whether to have a child, end a pregnancy or having had a child keep or put your child up for adoption is the key point of this tale. Set in Canada, it was 1988 before termination of pregnancy was deemed legal. Before that time doctors who believed in a woman's right to choose were breaking the law if they provided terminations.
This story is told from the point of view of 3 women who were caught up in this. The story progresses from the finding of a letter which failed to be delivered to the recipient in 2010. It is found by a woman who is desperate to become pregnant by artificial insemination with her wife. Evelyn is a Doctor who was forced to give up her child when she gives birth as an unwed mother in a home for Unwed Mothers and goes on to perform illegal abortions.
Nancy is an adopted child whose adoptive parents have never told her she is adopted,
These three women's experiences are over a period of more than 30 years. At times it feels quite complicated and occasionally forced. At other times it is heart rending.
Three and a half stars for me.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Heather Marshall/Hodder & Stoughton for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

The story
Three woman in Toronto. Angela finds a ten year old letter that was never opened containing a decades-old secret. Nancy finds out a secret about her family, and holds her own secrets about her activism. Evelyn’s sad reality of an unwanted teen pregnancy in the 1960’s fuelled her medical career and lifelong assistance to women needing safe options.

My thoughts
From the blurb, this book seems to be dealing with an underground abortion network, but it’s so much more than that. From 1960’s homes for unmarried mothers, pro-choice activism, the long term effects of adoption on families and adoptees, the long term effects of abortion, dealing with fertility issues, this story runs right across the spectrum of issues around maternity. These issues touch so many of us. The storytelling in Looking for Jane is handled beautifully, and I loved how the three women’s history and situations are woven into each other in the most serendipitous way ❤️

Set in Canada during the 1960s-present, Marshall frames the dilemma: what could a girl/woman do when she has an unplanned, unwanted pregnancy. Although much of,the story is fictionalized, the author does draw on true stories. To the women who sought illegal abortions and were assisted by underground networks to the unwed mother homes where the girls were coerced into giving up their babies.
I grew up during this time era and saw the evolution of the topic fluctuate widely but younger generations don’t have a clue.
It’s a compelling read and the author connected the spectrum of motherhood nicely.

Outstanding!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, it was so poignant and beautifully written. I really felt connected to the characters and their stories and I couldn’t stop the tears at the end!

This is such a timely novel, given all that is taking place in the US at the moment. A beautifully told, heartbreaking exploration of motherhood, pregnancy and abortion. Told over three separate, but interconnected timelines, this novel portrays just how difficult life has been made for females over the years and how society has tried to exert control over their bodies.

The plotting and characterisation in this novel are breathtaking. I read it pretty much in one sitting as I was desperate to get to the ending.

I knew little about abortion legislation in Canada (novel’s setting) but the story telling is so well crafted I could read on with equal measures of curiosity, horror and understanding. An enormous amount of the significance of this story transcends geographical borders.

I don’t want to get into the details of the plot in case I inadvertently spoil it. The book contains many issues that might cause distress: rape, abortion, miscarriage, suicide, abandonment… but all are sensitively handled and never sensationalised.

Wow! Don’t miss this read - so much truth within the fiction. I will never hear the name Jane again, without reflecting on this novel. It is, perhaps, a reminder to everyone just how far women’s rights have come, and a stark warning to never get complacent.

As Heather Marshall says in her readers notes, this is not a book about abortion but about motherhood and the choices we have around that.
Looking for Jane is not an easy book to read but it is fascinating, horrifying in places and also made me very angry. The story is focussed mainly around a home for unwed mothers in the 60s and the activities of the underground abortion doctors in the 70s before abortion was finally made legal in Canada. Heather Marshall weaves a brilliant story beginning with the discovery of a long lost letter found in the modern day which tells a daughter that she was adopted. As Angela tries to find the daughter and her real mother we are transported back to the brutal church Home where the daughter was born and sold on, through to the activities of one of the inmates as she becomes an abortion doctor in the 70s.
It’s hard to believe this is a debut, it is very skilfully written and immaculately researched. It’s very frightening to think that we still need this sort of underground activity in this day and age and that women still have so little right to do with their bodies as they choose in some areas of the civilised world.
I urge you to read this book, and the readers notes at the end.
Thank you to #netgalley and #hodder_studio for allowing me to review this ARC

When bookstore assistant Angela finds a ten year old, undelivered letter in a drawer at work, intended for a previous recipient of the flat above the shop, she is intrigued. When she opens it the contents reveal a secret that she realises the recipent needs to know.

The letter is written from a dying mother to her  daughter Nancy, who tells her that she was adopted at birth. The writer admits that she had kept this from her daughter but urges her now to get in touch with her birth mother before it is too late.

In her quest to find Nancy, Angela uncovers a horrific history of the home  for unmarried mothers where Nancy was born. The girls, often very young, were branded "inmates", treated as criminals and punished for their sins. We are told the stories of Maggie, who was sexually abused by a family friend and Evelyn who found out she was pregnant after her fiancee died. Both were disowned by their families, sent to the home in disgrace and their babies forcibly taken away and sold by the nuns who ran the home.

Looking for Jane  also follows the story of the Jane movement, which campaigned for the legalisation of abortions in Canada and where sympathising doctors performed abortions secretly out of hours to save patients from the horrors of botched home attempts.

This a well-written, heart-wrenching story, which is particularly poignant at the moment in light of the changes to abortion  rights in America.

Thank you NetGalley and publishers Hodder & Stoughton for this ARC.

I loved this book up until the ending, which I found somewhat lacking. That is just my personal opinion , but I was taken on a journey with a storyline that has its roots in factual happenings and yet the ending was unsatisfactory.

I am still glad I read this book and am grateful for the opportunity but it won’t stay with me.

Not a heart warming or easy book but an important book due to the zeitgeist. It's a sort of "Never forget" as it talks about what meant being a single mother not long ago and what was if you needed an abort.
It's disturbing, heart wrenching, and gripping.
I hope younger women will read it as it could happen again.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This book is about women supporting women. “Looking for Jane” is a powerful book that is one that will break your heart over and over again. In the author’s note, Marshall tells us this book is about motherhood, abortion rights, women’s reproductive rights, and so much more.

I will say that this book is not for the faint hearted. There are several interweaving story lines, each one as powerful as each other. In the 1960s we witness the horrific abuse that young unmarried women suffered in mother and baby homes in Canada, something that resonated with me as an Irish woman with a harrowing history of the same in my own country. The systematic abuse that the women suffered is difficult to read, and it is painful to see how many women were forced to give up their babies. In the 1970s we learn of the fight for women’s rights in Canada, with a focus on the illegal underground abortion services. Though the author does say that many accounts are fictionalised, it rings true to the history of the fight and struggle towards reproductive rights.

This book is timely after the decision of the Supreme Court in America. This book honours women who have fought hard for the rights over their own body. Marshall did extensive research for this book, and the outcome is that it is full history and bravery.

'Just tell them you're looking for Jane...'

Looking For Jane by Heather Marshall deals an emotional sucker punch. It is essentially a story about motherhood and the choices around that. Don't mistake this as a novel simply about abortion, it is so much more than that.

Looking For Jane is a superb novel with a sadly relevent message considering events currently happening In America, among other places.

Whilst this is a fictional story, it is clearly based on very real events and phenomenal people. It has made me want to read more widely on this subject.

I read Looking For Jane in one sitting.

It is hard to believe this is a debut novel from Heather Marshall, it is such a gripping and captivating read. I found it hard to put down while at the same time I didn't want it to end. It is a fictional account of the heartbreaking experiences of young women who found themselves pregnant in Canada in the 1960's. It centres on three strong women and how their lives are intertwined through pregnancy, motherhood and the woman's right to choose how to control their bodies and ultimately their lives. It is a harrowing read at times and a genre I usually avoid as the topic is very close to the bone as an adopted person here in Ireland, where these experiences have since been proven to be very similar to how Heather Marshall has depicted them. The abusive regime of these mother and baby homes is not an easy read, but it is compelling, and in light of the overthrowing of the Wade vs Roe decision recently is all the more relevant and important to be aware of.
Heather Marshall writes from the heart, her characters are superbly drawn, her plots carefully executed and her skill as a storyteller is superb. I loved it though I cried at the sheer awfulness of inhumanity shown by the nuns to the girls, though on the other hand the Janes were fantastic, putting themselves in danger to help these poor women. May we never forget.

There are some books that I find easy to write; and then there are others where I struggle to fully convey how the story makes a reader feel - and this is one of those. But I’ll start by saying this deserves all the 5 star reviews.

I warn you, this book isn’t for the faint hearted. It has the possibility to break your heart over and over again, and yet it is the complete opposite of sad or miserable. Yes, there are moments that aren’t what you would call happy, but there’s an undercurrent of hope running through it.

There’s three main point-of-views, three time periods which I thought would be a little confusing, a little muddled, but they’re all written in their own ways that it’s easy to differentiate, but they’re not isolated. Whilst they are their own stories, you can fully understand how and why they all link together.

Any stories that involves illegal abortions, immoral adoptions and young mothers forced into hiding gets my goat, even in fictional books. It just makes me so angry. I know it was a different time with different believes in the years this book is set, but I just cannot get my head round how anyone thought it acceptable. I don’t want to get politician but I do think this book is quite timely, what with the change in some countries’ abortion laws. Whilst this isn’t based on one true story, it is influenced by real-life practices and it’s been done so carefully and with such sensitivity, it’s really beautiful.

There is so much packed into this book, so much plot but also so much emotion. Gut-wrenching devastation as well as heart warming joy.

I cannot believe this is Heather’s debut book. I don’t like to compare books with others, as they all have their own merits. But this definitely feels like it’s been written by a master of their craft, something that’s been honed over many years.

People say that you can get a ‘book hangover’ when you read a good book, you get the inability to start a new book because you’re still living in the last one. And I totally get that. I don’t think I’ll forget this book for a long time coming, and I don’t want to forget it. It’s gorgeous and I will recommend it for any man or woman looking for a good read.

The topic of abortion is one which splits society probably more so than any other issue. This is a difficult read but it does not throw the issue in your face but instead treats it with the respect it deserves..

Although it is set in Canada and not America, it is difficult not to consider the book in the current American context with the overturning of Roe vs Wade. Will we now see more American women Looking for Jane?

Thanks to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton, Hodder Studio for an ARC in exchange for an honest review