Title: Counting
Backwards
Author: Jacqueline Friedland
Narrated by: Amanda Stribling, Carolyn Jania
Publisher: Harper
Muse
Length:
Approximately 10 hours and 45 minutes
Source: Audiobook review Copy from NetGalley and physical book review copy from @jackiefriedland @harpermusebooks @austenprose. Thank you!
What's a book that you think has a stunning cover
design? I love the pomegranate on the
cover of this novel, and it works so well with the theme of the novel.
Jessa Gidney is a Manhattan lawyer and has recently
been passed over for partner. She miscarried
a year before and has been having problems getting pregnant again which has
been causing friction with her husband, Vance.
When she meets Isobel Perez as part of her firm’s pro bono work, she realizes
that there is much more to the case than just a deportation order. Why are the women at the deportation center
being sterilized?
In 1920s Virginia, Carrie Buch has lived a hard life.
She was separated from her mother and raised by a foster family who just wanted
free labor. After she is raped, the
system continues to let her down. What is her connection to Jessa?
· This novel had a rough start with a couple arguing about fertility as they try to get pregnant, Luckily, the story picked up after that and became a compelling story that I couldn’t put down.
· The look into our countries history with eugenics was both horrifying and thought provoking. It’s important and timely now as unfortunately these types of cases persist. Who gets to decide whether a woman is allowed to bear children?
· This is a dual timeline novel which spends equal time with Jessa and Carrie. They are both interesting characters.
· The author is a lawyer which gives the novel an authentic feel.
· I couldn’t stop listening to the audiobook. It was a fascinating story with great narrators.
· There is a great list of additional reading at the end of the novel.
· There is also a fascinating author’s note on how the author first read about the real-life Carrie Buck and her case while she was a high school senior. I am horrified on how Carrie Buck was treated.
Overall, Counting Backwards by Jacqueline Friedland is
a compelling dual narrative novel that examines a dark time in our country’s
history that also is seeping into current events surrounding women’s rights and
immigration.
BOOK DESCRIPTION
A routine immigration case, a shocking legacy. Jessa Gidney's quest for justice draws her into the heart of an abhorrent conspiracy. As she uncovers her personal ties to a heartbreaking past, her life takes a dramatic turn, in this emotionally riveting novel inspired by true events.
New York, 2022. Jessa Gidney is trying to have it all--a high-powered legal career, a meaningful marriage, and hopefully, one day, a child. But when her professional ambitions come up short and Jessa finds herself at a turning point, she leans into her family's history of activism by taking on pro bono work at a nearby ICE detention center. There she meets Isobel Pérez--a young mother fighting to stay with her daughter--but as she gets to know Isobel, an unsettling revelation about Isobel's health leads Jessa to uncover a horrifying pattern of medical malpractice within the detention facility. One that shockingly has ties to her own family.
Virginia, 1927. Carrie Buck is an ordinary young woman in the center of an extraordinary legal battle at the forefront of the American eugenics conversation. From a poor family, she was only six years old when she first became a ward of the state. Uneducated and without any support, she spends her youth dreaming about a different future--one separate from her exploitative foster family--unknowing of the ripples her small, country life will have on an entire nation.
As Jessa works to assemble a case against the prison and the crimes she believes are being committed there, she discovers the landmark Supreme Court case involving Carrie Buck. Her connection to the case, however, is deeper and much more personal than she ever knew--sending her down new paths that will leave her forever changed and determined to fight for these women, no matter the cost.
Alternating between the past and present, and deftly tackling timely-yet-timeless issues such as reproductive rights, incarceration, and society's expectations of women and mothers, Counting Backwards is a compelling reminder that progress is rarely a straight line and always hard-won. A moving story of two remarkable women that you'll remember for years to come.
"Jacqueline Friedland's ripped-from-the-headlines story is an Erin Brockovich for our times."— Jill Santopolo, New York Times bestselling author of The Light We Lost
". . . a riveting, compelling story--but it's also an important one, reminding us that history's darkest aspects can echo forward into our present day and that there is so much work left to do in the fight for freedom and equality."— Kelly Rimmer, New York Times bestselling author of The German Wife
AUTHOR BIO
Jacqueline Friedland is a USA Today and Amazon bestselling author of historical and contemporary women's fiction. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, she earned a law degree from NYU and a Master of Fine Arts from Sarah Lawrence College. Jackie regularly reviews fiction for trade publications and appears at schools and other locations as a guest lecturer. She lives just outside New York City with her husband, four children, and two dogs. Connect with her online at JacquelineFriedland.com
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