"Looking for Jane" by Heather Marshall releases on Tuesday and is a stark novel about the history of women's reproductive rights in Canada. I found the topic interesting but it was a fairly heavy novel overall. 2.5⭐

Angela (2017) finds a misdelivered letter from a mother who confesses a secret to her daughter. Angela tries to find the daughter to pass on this knowledge. Nancy (1980) is exploring the underground network of "Janes" who help women get safe but illegal abortions. Maggie and Evelyn (1960) are roommates at a home for pregnant teens in Toronto whose babies are taken from them.

First, there are A LOT of trigger warnings in this book that I highly suggest readers take note of. I found Nancy, Maggie, and Evelyn's stories interesting but I didn't think Angela's story was necessary. I liked that the author based many of these stories off of real-life anecdotes, and provided interesting side characters and secondary back stories.

I found it hard to read this book after Roe vs. Wade was struck down this year (and the Author's Note has a fascinating reflection about this). While readers in Canada and the UK may read this book as a piece of history, it hits differently as an American woman in 2023 still fighting for the right to make choices about my body. Overall, I didn't feel compelled to pick this one up at night when other books from my TBR were calling my name.

This book is a standout example of overlapping timelines that are so often seen in historical fiction novels. Heather Marshall successfully weaves the stories of three (honestly, more than three) women together while empowering each of them to retain their "independence" throughout. The book also navigates many complex and contentious themes without ever feeling "preachy" or dictatorial. All in all, a beautiful read. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free advance copy.

The story of three different women on three different pregnancy journeys. Their lives end up overlapping in ways none of them would have ever imagined. Through it, they all learn that your circumstances don't define you, but help to determine how you embrace the future because your decisions will have ripple effects for generations.
I found this to be a fascinating book. I don't know much about Canada's history with this topic, so it was interesting to see it through the eyes of Evelyn and Nancy. I would not be surprised if this is a top book for 2023.

3.7 Stars
One Liner: A much-needed theme, but the storytelling isn’t great

Angela Creighton discovers a letter with a confession and decides to find the receipt. It leads her to the 1970s when abortions were illegal, and a group of women ran an underground network with a code, Jane, to help women get abortions through safe medical practices.
In the 1960s, a young Evelyn Taylor is dropped at the home for unwed mothers and forced to give up her baby for adoption. Years later, she is Dr. Taylor and a part of the Jane Network.
It’s the 1980s, and Nancy discovers a truth about her life. How does it affect her? How do the lives of the three women meet in the present in 2017?
The story comes in limited third-person POVs of multiple characters.

What I Like:
The plot presents the true stories of countless women (300,000 Canadian women, according to the statistics shared by the author) who were forced into homes for unwed mothers and had to give up their babies for adoption.
The book combines the Canadian version of Magdalene laundries and the lack of a woman’s choice to decide whether or not she wants to keep her pregnancy. It also deals with the trauma of infertility and recurring miscarriages (presenting them as two sides of the same coin).
Many real-life events are woven into the story. Dr. Henry Morgentaler also makes an appearance in the book. As someone with limited knowledge of Canada’s history, I could learn a little more about the country’s past.
The sections dealing with the Jane Network and the House of Unwed Mothers are very well-done. These are the strong points of the book. There are itsy-bitsy pieces of sharp, dark humor that add to the narration.

What Could Have Been Better for Me:
The book is more like a collection of events than a proper story. While it has an intricate and complex plot, there are many loose ends and plot holes. The book relies on the emotional impact theme to carry off the plot, which doesn’t always work.
The characters are distinct but don’t have a proper arc. We know who they are, and that pretty much sums them up. While it is easy to connect to themes, it is hard to connect to the characters (feels like watching them on the screen).
The ‘twist’ or revelation is predictable, and I guessed it halfway through. The ending, though perfect for the title, leaves many unanswered questions. That’s not something I like after reading 400 pages.

To summarize, Looking for Jane is a poignant debut novel about women’s rights over their bodies. The book is a debut novel and it shows in narration and execution. But read it for the themes- the past, present, and future.
Thank you, NetGalley and Atria Books, for the eARC. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

Excellent work of historical fiction about a clandestine organization I had never heard of and knew nothing about. Really enjoyed this book and learning about Jane.

Looking for Jane follows three women during the 1970s, 1980s, and 2010s. These stories intertwine in heartfelt and heartbreaking ways. Told from several different points of view, the reader is taken into the story immediately with one of our main character's finding a letter where a mother confesses to her daughter that she was adopted and her mother's dying wish was for her daughter to find her birth mother. Our main character dives into research looking for both the letter's recipient and her birth mother. While researching she stumbles upon the St. Agnes' Home for Unwed Mothers and our story takes off from there bouncing between the timelines where our main characters are unwed mother's at the St. Agnes' House, earning medical degrees, participating in the Jane Network, and so much more.

Like mentioned above, this story is both heartbreaking and heartfelt. I found myself gasping, tearing up, and tearing through this book very quickly. I am so impressed that this is Heather's debut novel! This was quickly a 5/5 star for me and I cannot wait for the opportunity to purchase the physical book and reread it.

Please note the book content warnings as the author does not sugar coat details - this book at times can be a heavy read. While this story is fiction, the research that inspired her writings were real lived experiences from hundreds if not thousands of individuals.

Looking for Jane is a fictional look at the choices women had regarding unwanted pregnancies during the period from 1960 to the time abortion was legalized in Canada.

The story opens in 2017, with Angela, who is managing her Aunt Jo's antiques store. Angela was fired when her employer found out she is pregnant. Angela is gay. Angela and her wife have been trying for a baby for awhile. This pregnancy is a little scary because she had a miscarriage with her first positive test. As Angela is working in the shop, she opens a drawer and finds a seven year old letter, sent to Nancy Mitchell from her mother Frances. It's obvious this was misdirected mail meant for the apartment upstairs. Frances had her lawyer send this after her death. She tells Nancy she was adopted and encloses a note from Nancy's birth mother. Angela starts looking for Nancy and eventually as she keeps striking out, she also looks for Nancy's birth mother, Margaret.

In 1960, when Evelyn's fiancé died of a heart attack, she was already pregnant with their child. Her parents gave her no choice. She was whisked off to St. Agnes' Home for Unwed Mothers and disowned. When Evelyn's daughter was born, she too was whisked off-- to be adopted. No choice there, although in this case, Evelyn desperately wanted to have her brother and his wife adopt her baby. The baby's name was Jane. Evelyn secreted a note to the adoptive parents and a pair of yellow booties in Jane's blanket and that was that. Evelyn always mourned this loss and made unsuccessful efforts to find Jane. Looking for Jane.

Years later, Evelyn, now a doctor, gets involved in providing women with illegal abortions that are carried out in a medically safe and very private way. Nancy has helped a cousin get a "back alley" abortion and she requires emergency room care due to bleeding. The male doctor is hostile and tells them that when Evelyn comes on for the next shift, she will likely call the police. Instead, Evelyn tells Nancy that if she ever learns of anyone else needing an abortion, the woman should call any gynecology office and ask for Jane. Evelyn has joined the "Jane" network, a group that is based on a similar network that existed in Chicago before abortion was legalized via Roe v. Wade.

Looking for Jane follows these women's stories in a nonlinear fashion, drawing us into the past and present of these remarkable and very ordinary women. Marshall writes a compelling and entertaining story throughout, although the ending is a bit much. That's all I'll say about that. It was entertaining both because of and in spite of the ending. It's impossible to write more without serious spoilers. I recommend this book.

Abortion and a woman's right to choose are emotionally charged topics that never seem to wane. And while fictional, this story covers a little know underground abortion network, a group of beyond-brave doctors, nurses, and others who risked everything to help provide safe abortions. There are some powerful and thought-provoking messages in this book that still hold true today, especially with the overturning of Roe v Wade.


The story follows three women, giving three perspectives regarding not just abortion but reproductive rights and motherhood. Growing up, I was aware of homes for unwed mothers - but did not realize how emotionally and physically abusive they were, forcing young women to give up their babies for adoption. I was also shocked at how these young women were treated by their families, society, and medical professionals. Unfortunately, their only alternative was to seek unsafe back alley abortions.

However, this book is about so much more than abortion; it shows the emotional effect of dealing with fertility issues and the long-term impact of adoption on families and adopted children.

It's also interesting to note that the title for this book comes from The Jane Collective, a code name for a real-life underground network in 1960s Chicago that made safe abortions available. Excellent historical fiction; I highly recommend it.

I received a free e-arc of this book through Netgalley. Since abortion has been in the news a lot lately, I thought it was a very interesting read. It kept my attention and I did not expect the twist towards the end of the book so that was a lovely surprise. An important look into the real life horrors of women seeking abortions when it's not legal. Outlawing abortions doesn't stop abortions.

What a book. Looking For Jane is such an important, deep, relevant and compelling debut novel. All the applause to Heather Marshall for all of your hard work and the research you did to write this novel. This book explores motherhood in ways that hasn’t been done before and it does it so so well. The writing and storyline just flows so easily and you can tell how the author has really put her heart and soul into this one. I really enjoyed this one and these characters. It tugged at my momma heart and broadened my views on motherhood. Give it a try - you might learn something ♥️

LOOKING FOR JANE
BY: HEATHER MARSHALL

This wonderful Author, Heather Marshall, sums it up best by saying in her own words that this is a book about motherhood. About wanting to be a mother, or not wanting to be a mother, and all of the gray areas in between. It is about all of the great lengths women will go to in order to be pregnant and, the acts in which they will endure in ending a pregnancy. But mostly it's about women supporting one another through their individual choices and their outcomes of those choices. I very much enjoyed this novel, called, "Looking For Jane."

One of the main characters named Nancy accompanies her cousin Clara to get a back alley abortion and Clara almost dies in one of the scenes in this emotionally wrought, and well thought out novel that takes place in Canada, but has never been more relevant than now in the United States where after June 25, 2022 abortion has become illegal again when Roe V. Wade has been overturned in most States by the Supreme court.

I have never had an abortion and becoming a mother has become one of my greatest accomplishments which has brought me mostly the happiest years of my life. I can also relate to those who aren't ready to become a mother, and choose to end their unwanted pregnancies through gaining access to safe healthcare and terminating their pregnancies. I don't agree that any government should take away a women's right to choose bodily autonomy.

This book features a fictional accounting of well developed plotting and character development of what also is a disgrace to some young girls who had the State, the church, and their parents decide whether or not they could keep their own babies. These young mothers were stripped of their choices during the post war years by putting those babies up for adoption by sending these women off to live in Maternity homes. They would be abused and underfed and, suffered by having to work doing chores in these homes, and they were shunned by society, and had no say in the matter of keeping their babies. One such example is when a young girl has no choice in keeping her baby because her fiance is killed during the war, but because they haven't gotten married--even though that baby is the product of a girl who loved her husband-to-be, she is forced to give up her rights to be the mother to raise her baby.

This novel explores the horrible indignities so many young pregnant unmarried women suffered by being forced to live in those very real Maternity homes during the post war years. They were very real to me and the reader can't help but experience the horrors of how these poor unwed pregnant women experiences felt like having to endure life altering consequences that these characters portrayed here did. This is a book that as the Title so aptly portrays is fitting for what was a sort of underground railroad in which women could have safe abortions by calling a medical doctor's office and ask to speak to "Jane," in order to set up an appointment with access to ending their pregnancies with doctors and nurses safely. I highly recommend this fantastic novel to women of all ages to also feel the great hard to put down well drawn characters that ultimately celebrate how important of an issue that is both sad and uplifting we have all experienced or will experience during our lifetime.

Publication Date: February 7, 2023

Thank you to Net Galley, Heather Marshall and Atria Publishing for sharing your ARC with me in exchange for a fair and honest review. The pleasure was all mine, and all opinions are my own.

#LookingforJane #HeatherMarshall #Atria #NetGalley

This is a story about motherhood, but fair warning Looking for Jane frankly discusses abortion access. Split into multiple points of view, we follow three women and their respective motherhood journeys.

Dr. Evelyn Taylor is a respected family physician who for years performed abortions in secret until they were legalized in Canada, because when she got in the “family way” in the 1960s she was sent to a home for wayward women by her parents and was never given options. Forced to give up her child, Evelyn struggled to move forward with her life. With the assistance of the Jane network, Evelyn vowed that “every child [be] a wanted child, [and] every mother a willing mother.”

Angela works in her aunt’s antiques store and is used to odd things being donated. She she comes across an unopened letter in a chest of drawers, and she can’t help herself and reads it. Inside, she discovers a mother, Frances’ confession to her daughter Nancy, that she is not her biological parent. It’s 2017 and this letter is old, but Angela, feels like this information needs to reach Nancy, even if it has been years. With some sleuthing using her partner’s university credentials she works to find Nancy to return her letter. All this happening as she herself is struggling to become a mother after multiple miscarriages, a journey incredibly important to her as she was adopted.

Nancy finds herself at a crossroads in her early twenties and finds herself in need of “Jane.” After making a very tough decision, she begins working with the group alongside Dr. Taylor to help other women faced with the same choice. This work isn’t easy as it is the early 1980s and abortions are illegal. They work in secret to help anyone in need, whether it’s a teenager, a rape case, incest, abuse, or simply not the right time.

All three women have been pregnant and were faced with different choices as each had different levels of support at home and were raised in different generations. Each woman has a unique motherhood journey, as we all do. Ultimately this novel is less about abortion, and instead is an ode to motherhood—no matter what a woman’s journey looks like or the decisions she has to face (if she even has a choice at all).

Heather Marshall does a phenomenal job toggling between the different characters and their time periods; I can’t believe this is a debut novel. Thank you to Netgalley, Atria Books, and of course Heather Marshall for the advanced copy of the book. Looking for Jane comes out on February 7th. All opinions are my own.

What a great debut novel!! Such a great historical fiction book for people who don’t normally read HF. I loved the three women’s POV and duel timeline. Each woman had a different motherhood journey and I loved that (same sex couple fertility journey representation). This book is heavy on the abortion topic and the author did an amazing job with the personal side and medical side of it all! It was not majorly political but personal. The author does such a good job writing about this. The twist at the end got me!! I was shocked and filled with so much emotion. As a mom, I couldn’t imagine being tricked into giving away my baby. That section of the book was so hard to imagine but it did. The characters were intertwined so nicely. I found myself not wanting to put this book down. I loved the repetitive quote of “there will always be need”. And how it never ends (obviously where we are at currently with abortion laws).

Will post on my book Instagram on pub day!

One of the best books I've ever read!

A heart wrenching story detailing the lives of young girls forced to live and work under tyrannical people who were supposed to be those who protected them and then the forced adoption of their children - often against their will. And this wasn't set in the far, far distant past for me - I lived in this time period.

Well written - definitely a must read.

When Angela Creighton discovers and reads a letter found in a desk, she knows she has to find the person the letter was meant for. When a young woman is forced to give up her child, she does all she can to ensure that other young women are not required to lose a part of themselves as she has. Through this journey, the lives of three women are forever entwined and forgiveness is found.

This is a debut that marks all of the historical fiction boxes. It features strong women dealing with extraordinary circumstances. The circumstances, in this case, are being sent away to have their babies and when unable to continue their pregnancy they are forced to seek illegal abortions. They are told to call different doctors and ask for "Jane" - through "Jane" women are able to reach safe doctors to take care of them. This was a book I could not put down. I kept wondering what was going to happen next. I loved how this told a full and complete story. With circumstances as they are in the US, I felt this was a very good read for those wondering why Roe v Wade is so important.

I look forward to reading more stories from Heather Marshall; I believe they will be as amazing as this one.

I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley.

I was really interested in reading this book with all of the recent abortion issues going on in the United States right now. This is a great book for people to read about the horrors of women being forced to live a life that they never wanted. Some parts of this book were hard to get through, but that I think is the whole part of why people should read this book. The 'Jane' Network helped out a lot of women throughout the years that should have had a choice in the first place.

This book blew me away! Looking for Jane is a brilliant and moving debut about motherhood, women's rights, and the fight for reproductive rights. Told through multiple timelines and points of view, Looking for Jane tells the story of the history of reproductive rights in Canada. As the author said "This book is about wanting to be a mother and not wanting to be a mother and all the grey areas." It was such an empowering and emotional read especially with the recent events effecting reproductive rights in the US.

I highly recommend!!!

This book was perfect. The message was stunning. And though it was hard to read at times, it was the reality for so many women. I loved it so much.

This is a fantastic historical fiction story weaving together three women from three timelines. This is inspired by true stories of the Jane collective and maternity home systems which takes place starting in the 1970s to contemporary Toronto. The post war maternity homes are where young women were sent to carry out their pregnancies in secret. During this time about 300k mothers in Canada were forced to give their babies up for adoption - and many were sold during this time. Later on the underground network of health care workers began offering illegal abortions. The network had two rules. Rule one, call hospitals and ask for Jane. Rule two, never use your real name. I had no idea about the Jane network and the enormous impact it made during its time. It's devastating to me that similar issues are still going on in today's world and seeing the glaring similarities during these times. The book had heartbreaking inspired by true stories of how women were forced to give up their babies under duress or before they were allowed pain medicine directly after birth. Having three babies of my own I was just so devastated for the conditions the women were going through - not allowed to communicate to anyone outside of the maternity homes, not able to find any comfort or friendship in other women there, and having their babies taken away directly after birth. The story spans decades and is an incredible read.

Very reminiscent of books by Kate Quinn.

Based in fact, this is the story of three generations of Canadian women and the struggle for agency over their own bodies. Evelyn is sent to St Agnes by her parents when she discovers that she's pregnant after her fiance dies- and her child is taken from her. She becomes a physician and commits to the Jane movement of physicians and others who assist women seeking to send their pregnancy, which is how she meets Nancy. And then there's Angela, an adopted child herself who finds a letter from a woman who, like Evelyn, was at St Agnes and whose daughter was adopted out. This moves between the three women and three different time periods and while it will be clear that the women are linked, there's a twist. It won't be for everyone given the subject matter but Marshall has created good sympathetic characters you'll root for. Don't miss the afterword. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. A nice debut.