There's no time like the present to talk about abortion and the struggles that women have gone through over time to get adequate care for them. I think that this book could not have come at a more perfect time in our history when women's rights are constantly being challenged by old white men.

Madame Restell was an immigrant,a pioneer, a wife, a mother, a physician in the envy of her peers. She gave solutions to the problems that plague most young women weather by choice or by force and unlike others in her profession she’s never lost a patient. This is why detective Comstock was set on taking her down. He was a smug policeman with an overblown ego and was the head of Vice in New York City. Madame Restell came to the big Apple in the early 1800 with her husband but when she found herself alone she was forced to find a way to support her self. At first she took in sewing but because that didn’t pay much she looked for a better solution and thanks to different influences she decided to learn how to make pills to help women get rid of problems they didn’t want in eventually would teach herself how to do a surgical abortion and help women with birth control.. I know a lot of people do not think abortions are needed but I always believe that’s those who’ve never been in a position to need one. I don’t think I could ever have an abortion but I can only speak for myself and let others speak for them this book was so good I have read all of Jennifer writes books and although this subject is a hot topic she still told it with all the greatness Jennifer Wright has and what I’ve come to expect from her books. I usually don’t like books where it’s obvious the opinion of the author but you could totally tell what side Jennifer Wright stood with and I totally didn’t mind it. I thought she told her story with the little bit snarkiness and a lot of research and intelligence it is a total five star. I just wish she would write books more often. I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher but I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

Not only is this an informative book on Madame Restell's life, but it's also extremely informative of what the times were like when she was alive. Not only am I learning about New York's most famous abortionist, but I'm learning what it's like to be a woman in the 1830s and beyond, how the conditions were, the laws, the society absolutely dripping in sexism (though we already knew that).

I absolutely enjoyed every moment of this book and learning about Madam Restell, who wasn't painted as a saint even in this book. She was painted as a human, all the nitty gritty details about her right beside all the best parts. And there were a lot of great parts about her. I got to read about her, see her, in her entirety, not just what was pretty and clean, which is a rare thing to get in 2023.

What an amazing, informative, enraging, beautiful read.

“Restell was a businesswoman, a scofflaw, an immigrant, and an abortionist. She made men really, really mad. She deserves a place in the pantheon of women with no fucks left to give.”
- now I pulled that from the ARC copy I received so is it an actual accurate quote? I don’t know - but it damn well should be. It’s a powerful line and says a lot about not just her, but women who fight in general.

This book was clearly well researched and written with the respect and appropriate amount of snark that a book like this requires. It’s obviously a pro-choice narrative and if that offends you then either skip it or go in with an open mind and maybe you’ll learn something.

I really enjoy history like this. This is basically the history of medicine in the 1800’s USA. We get information about surgeons, lack of germ theory (yuck), midwifery, general practitioners and of course abortionists. We even get a look into women choosing a midwife over the hospital because a midwife was the safer option (again because germs). There’s information surrounding limiting the expansion of families (aka birth control that isn’t abortion) but it really is a dive into the life of Madame Restell - a woman I had never heard of - from seamstress to abortionist in New York City. It’s a wild ride. The parallels between 1800’s USA and today are absolutely no surprise to me either, but that’s a different story.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ebook!

In Gilded Age New York City, Madame Restell was who you went to see if you needed or wanted an abortion, birth control, or other medical assistance. She helped both rich and poor alike. Restell even allowed some patients to recover for a few days under her roof. She was self-taught and instead of hiding in the shadows, Restell was quite open in her work. As she gained wealth and notoriety, she was quite open in what she was doing by placing advertisements in the newspapers and openly responding to critics in well thought out articles. As a more conservative age started to sweep the nation, where religious men started speaking out even more against women and their health-care needs, Restell continued to help women up to the end of her life. Unfortunately, Restell's story and the work she did for women's health has been hidden for far too long. Jennifer Wright writes a thoughtful, and at times, humorous, story of Madame Restell and her life in medicine.

It's unfortunate how timely this book is right now. But at least while it's being depressingly relevant, it's also captivating and even fun to read!

Madame Restell is, as the title would suggest, a biography of one of America's most infamous 19th century abortionists, but despite all of the history, her story and the story of the world around her is never dry. Wright spins an engaging tale of an immigrant woman who discovered what she was good at, made a lot of money doing it, and gave very few fucks about what people thought of her. She's not always a good person - and Wright makes room for her less flattering moments - but she is a strong one, as well as someone who is passionate about women's right to make decisions about their own bodies.

There's tons of information packed into the pages of this book, stretching well beyond Restell's story. Most of the time, the background info and complementary biographical digressions fit in well and enhance the overall picture, though on occasion, I did find myself wishing we could get back to the star of the show. Still, overall, this book is easy to gobble up, even if it does depress you how cyclical history can ultimately be.

4.25/5

This book takes us on a detailed journey of the life of a British immigrant, Ann Trow, who comes to America and, from her humble beginnings as a seamstress, rises to become one of the wealthiest and most notorious women in nineteenth-century New York: Madame Restell, New York's premiere abortionist. Make no mistake — although Madame Restell also offered other services such as midwifery and birth control, she was, first and foremost, an abortionist.

This book is highly detailed and well-researched, and far from dry. Jennifer Wright's style reads like you have a well-informed and enthusiastic friend who would like to regale you with all she's learned about Restell, making this a delightful read.

Through this telling of Trow/Restell's life, we learn how she got her start, ponder where she may have learned her craft, understand the societal context of her time and how it changed, and how those changes influenced public opinion and ultimately, the law. We're also given a look into the multiple lawsuits over the years, which were also significant sources of gossip and speculation.

I particularly enjoyed the context around what was happening with medicine during that period, when medical education wasn't terribly rigorous or scientific, and male doctors were threatened by the higher success rates and lower patient deaths experienced by midwives. In this area in particular, there are a lot of potential threads to pull if you're the type to want to go off and learn more about some of these adjacent topics. There's enough context to help you decide where to seek this information.

This book made for a frustrating reading experience. On one hand- Madame Restell was larger than life. The story of her life and work provides a gripping foundation to tell the history of abortion and reproductive rights in 1800's New York. On the other hand, the uneven storytelling and research paired with the often sarcastic tone made me wish a different writer had taken on the task of telling this particular story. It seemed as though Wright focused on mundane side topics, only tangentially related to the topic at hand, filling page after page with heavily researched details which were often lacking from the areas they were meant to contextualize. As a result, it often felt as though major plot points or explanations were glossed over, leaving us to our imagination to fill in the blanks.
With that said, for readers who are looking for an account of an incredibly interesting and complicated figure from history that is rarely talked about or a brief account of the history of abortion and reproductive health during the time of Madame Restell's life, you will find this to be an engaging and approachable option.

Timely, well researched and informative, Madame Restelle is an interesting, clear-headed and maddening look into the history of women’s reproductive health.

A really interesting story about an infamous abortionist in New York! I found the story really interesting, but the writing style wasn't my favorite. It wasn't as captivating as I wished it would be.

Thanks to Netgalley and Hachette Books for an egalley.

A timely nonfiction read about a 19th century woman who was controversial during her lifetime but has faded into obscurity. Jennifer Wright's well researched and very detailed book transports readers back to "Old New York" where a successful abortionist( some would argue notorious)raises the ire of the population including a politician who wanted to see her imprisoned forever.

The life of Ann Trow Sommers(Madame Restell) was quite interesting. I went into the book not knowing a thing about the woman or her craft during this period of history. I also came to understand that given the context of their lives as deemed by their current society, many women would turn on Madame Restell and offer her up to the authorities, time and time again.

Expected Publication. 28/02/23
Goodreads Review. 22/1/23

Madame Restell tells the story of an immigrant woman who built a business providing abortions, birth control, and medical assistance in the 1830s. It’s hard to find something negative about this book. The cover is gorgeous, the book’s pacing is fantastic, and Jennifer Wright does a great job at keeping readers engaged. Overall, I’d recommend this to anyone interested in history/nonfiction and anyone looking to get into reading nonfiction.

Excellent portrayal of one of the women who provided abortion care and reproductive healthcare to the the men and women of 19th Century NYC. Through her early work as a seamstress, butcher's helper, and and an apothecary's assistant, Ann Trow Lohman gleaned the skills which made her so successful--needlework, anatomy, and creating medicine. There are no credible reports of her causing any deaths, which can't be said by her competitors, and she treated all who sought her out, both rich and poor. Medical history, women's rights, cultural history, and finally, legal history are all incorporated to make this a “must read” for anyone interested in the full fledged historical portrayal of one who provided women's healthcare, and its unfortunate 20th century suppression. Fascinating and well documented biography belongs in every library.
Thank you Hachette Books and NetGalley for the advanced readers copy.

I'm not sure how I've studied women's healthcare and the history of abortion (with at least 20 years of analytical reading and a women's studies degree) and not heard about Madame Restell. Her story may stand out in its details of her wealth and lack of secrecy but the services she provided were also more quietly provided by numerous women during her time, before, and after. I found it interesting to learn so much about a particular person and would recommend this to anyone not familiar with the history of birth control and abortion in America, specifically in the early 1900s.

My thanks to both NetGalley and Hachette Books for an advance copy of this history and study of women's rights, the denial of these rights, and how history takes those women who stand up and make a scene, and points out hypocrisy, and tries to eliminate them from polite history. Also my thanks to the author Jennifer Wright for writing this book, and knowing the hell that is going to be poured on her, and Hachette Books for publishing.

There are a lot of well written lines in this book by Jennifer Wright, an author that I have enjoyed reading in the past for her humourous takes on history, and women who sometimes don't except the limits that society places on them. Wright has a real skill in presenting history that is both important, and most either forgotten or misunderstood, and bringing it back to us with a style that is funny, and yet presents the reader with a different view, and a lot to think about. There is a line in the epilogue of this biography that made me stop reading and contemplate not just the words and how they were on the page, but on the state of this world and what we are leaving for the next generation. So many people are doing so many things for the children, but none of what they so seems for the children, but for a narrow minded hatred of everything that makes them feel uncomfortable. I won't quote the line, this might give some keyboard warrior the ammo to go after the author for her writing, her thoughts, and probably her looks. This is America in 2022. Madame Restell: The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Old New York’s Most Fabulous, Fearless, and Infamous Abortionist is a biography about a woman who tried to help women and couples in a situation that is familiar to many, and continues to this day, and for such she made a fortune, but was hounded by those men who knew better. However this is much more than just a biography, it is a study of America and how it fights the same battles over and over with no winners, just lost people, and broken lives.

Ann Trow was born in England, found a job as a maid, found that being a maid made her basically property to the men who owned her, something that was written about in many books, and married at sixteen to a drunkard. Coming to America, Trow's husband died, leaving her with a daughter, and few prospects, as she was a good seamstress, in a country full of them. However she remarried, to a publisher who could be considered a radical, and with an interest in women's health began to involve herself in marital relations specifically birth control, and early abortions. Trow changed her name to a French sounding one, as France was considered medically more advanced, and soon began to help both the poor and the rich, making enough buy land that a Bishop wanted for his own mansion, as Madame Restell did not suffer enemies well. However being a woman was not easy, and being a woman going against men who wanted to keep their control on women was not easy, and soon plans were made to destroy her.

A book about a woman that I had no knowledge of, nor knew even existed, nor could be allowed to exist. Wealthy with powerful friends, and an attitude of not dealing well with stupid people. Talking about reproductive health in the 19th century. I like history and read quite a bit, but still this was all new to me. The writing is very good, though I think this is the first long book that Wright has written. I was locked in from the second chapter, and couldn't believe the life the character lead, nor the lives that she changed. There is just an incredible amount of information, and research done her, and yet nothing bogs down, and the writing never seems like a lecture. More of a conversation where each fact is followed by the reader going, no way, or hell yeah. Plus this is about more than a women fighting to help other woman, it's about control, men controlling women, controlling the message, and controlling the future. This book speaks even more about today than the century it was based on.

Recommended for people who people who read women's history, history about woman and men, reproductive history, and for people who love books about people who fight for what they believe is right. The epilogue alone is worth the price of the book, and is an essay worth sharing with others. Buy it for Valentine's Day for yourself, others or for libraries so others can read it. I don't envy Wright's social media accounts, for I am sure that Wright is going to be attacked for everything, but one of my Mom's favorite sayings, a nurse who worked in maternity for quite a while, speak up no matter how much your voice might shake. I know she saw this on a bumper sticker, but it is still true. And Jennifer Wright is speaking true.

This book is truly incredible. It's a hard read, but it's such a necessary read, especially now. Wright not only tells the story of an incredible woman, but also pulls in a lot of the history that influenced Madame Restell's career over the years. The parallels in the swings from liberal to conservative morality over the nineteenth-century are scarily in-line with our current swings. The Know-Nothing party is frighteningly similar to current alt-right politicians and groups. The epilogue is a gut-punch of a plea for level-headedness and consideration in the aftermath of the overturn of Roe v Wade. Wright gets deeply personal in that epilogue to prove her point, which is both great support for her argument and incredibly brave of her. I had to put this down at times because it made me so angry that not a lot seems to have changed for women, but that's why this book is such a necessary read.

Thanks to Hachette Books and NetGalley for the advanced readers copy.

Madame Restell came to America and truly remade herself. She was a savvy business woman and knew how to work the press. She was able to defy cultural norms of the time and amass her own wealth. She was an important historical figure that very few know anything about. I love the way Jennifer Wright writes! She's witty and smart. It makes her books so enjoyable to read!

There's no better time than to read the story of about one of the most fearless women in New York/America.

An English immigrant who came to the U.S. to find prosperity instead finds success by helping women and men end unwanted pregnancies. While not formerly trained, she only seemed to have lost one patient out out of the thousands of BOTH men and women who sought her services. Sadly, due to a series of factors explored in this book, she's been lost to history.

Thankfully, Jennifer Wright is here to bring her back into the light and back into our world.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Madame Restell, penned by Jennifer Wright, tells the life story of Ann Trow, who rose up from a lowly servant beginning to become an extremely wealthy--possibly the first self-made female millionaire in America--and powerful woman through her services as an abortionist. This book is well-researched and the tone and voice of it is casual, like a story is being told to you rather than a book has flopped into your lap, which will be a great boon to those who may not ordinarily read historical topics but chose this one due to the current climate. And BOY is it topical, given that we women are having our rights yanked away from us. Is it fun to learn my great-great-great-great-great grandmother (I literally checked the tree to make a point here) has more rights when it comes to abortion than I do now? Haha, it sure isn't! But as the author shows, it's important to see how history has swung from more liberal to more conservative laws in the past, and that we should take a hint from the past and not allow ourselves to lay down without a fight.

At any rate, this book is truly fascinating. It reads quickly; sometimes historical tomes tend toward the ponderous, but this always clips on at a steady pace. I also really enjoyed how Madame Restell's story was grounded with examples of societal issues and strains that drove such a large rate of abortion, and the pressures that women faced from all corners to submit to their husbands and raise broods of children, never to desire working outside the home, always willing to be submissive. It was neat to see with such research that Madame Restell bucked such notions, controlling the number of children she had, constructing her own apartment building outside of the input of her husband, and running her own business while employing men to work beneath her.

I think this book could especially resonate with a lot of women who are fired up politically, and it could be of especial benefit to those (women and men) who currently are not but ought to be.

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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