Looking for Jane

Looking for Jane ~ Heather Marshall

2017 – Angela Creighton works in an old antique shop, where she comes across a letter in the drawer of a table, a letter that was never opened. The letter is from a mother to her daughter, written on her deathbed. The mother wants her daughter to know that she was adopted, and that her birth mother loved her. She encourages her daughter to seek out her birth mother. Angela reads the letter, and works to find the daughter so she can give her the letter. Angela wants desperately to be a mother herself, and her desire affects her motivations and actions.

1980 – Nancy Mitchell discovers that she is adopted, but does not confront her parents to ask them questions. She goes into a bit of a spiral and has unprotected sex, resulting in an unwanted pregnancy. She wants an abortion, but abortion is illegal in Canada, so she has to find a way.

1971 – Dr. Evelyn Taylor was forced into a Catholic home for wayward girls when she finds herself pregnant. There is bad stuff going on, the girls are not allowed to keep their babies if they choose to. Instead, the babies are sold. Losing her baby in this way traumatizes Evelyn, as does the experience of the other young women at the home. She is determined to help women who find themselves pregnant and do not want to be, so she trains to become an illegal abortion provider.

Looking for Jane tells the stories of these three women, and how they are connected. Along the way it explores the history of abortion in Canada, adoption, and maternity homes that forced mothers to relinquish their babies. It is a story of motherhood in many different forms.

I found this book really interesting. I was surprised to learn that abortion was not legalized in Canada until 1988. It was mostly well written, but I felt like it dragged some in the middle. Recommended.