Friday Focus: Weekend Reads

It's Friday . . . time to share book excerpts with:

• Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires.  
• The Friday 56 hosted by My Head is Full of Books, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an eBook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.
  

Today I'm featuring The Women on Platform Two by Laura Anthony. The excerpts shared are from a hardcover version borrowed from the library.

 

 

 

Book Beginning:  Chapter I

Dublin City, 22 May 2023

Saoirse

 

I have pee on my fingers. It's my own pee, but it makes me feel gross nonetheless. I've never taken a pregnancy test before and I wasn't expecting it to be this fiddly.

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Page 56: Rita races toward the car, waving her arms above her head. "Doctor, Doctor, come quick!"

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My thoughts: A chance encounter on a train from Dublin to Belfast is the setting for a conversation between two women from different generations with considerably contrasting experiences. What ensues is a discussion that illustrates the hard-won rights for women's bodily autonomy over the decades, particularly in conservative societies.

Told in alternating timelines and featuring strong female characters, this novel addresses the pertinent topic of a woman's right to determine her own future in a compelling story with courageous, heartbreaking, and uplifting moments.

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From Goodreads:  In 1970s Dublin, all forms of contraception are strictly forbidden, but an intrepid group of women will risk everything to change that in this sweeping, timely novel inspired by a remarkable and little-known true story.

Dublin, 1969: Maura has just married Dr. Christy Davenport and they look forward to growing their family. But as her husband’s vicious temper emerges, Maura worries that her home might never be safe for a child. Meanwhile, her close friend Bernie, a mother of three, learns the devastating news that if she conceives again, her health complications could prove fatal.

Dublin, 2023: A close call makes Saoirse realize that she may never want to be a mother. Little does she know that only a few decades ago, a group of women made this option possible for her. And she’s about to meet one of them…

The Women on Platform Two is a haunting, powerful story of feminine resistance and resilience that reminds us all of where we started—and how far we still have to go.

 

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This Friday Focus: Weekend Reads post was originally composed and/or compiled and published by Catherine for the blog, bookclublibrarian.com. It cannot be republished without attribution.