This was a very interesting book - more so because I knew little of the topic. I had never heard of Madame Restell, but found it fascinating to learn of women’s health practices in the past. The era featured was the 1800’s, yet I’m surprised that so little has changed. I remember when birth control became available and had assumed it became available because science had just created it. No, it was because of regulations. Married women could use birth control in 1965. Unmarried women were not given access until 1972. Shocking, and just one example of many. I appreciate that I now know more.

I can't believe I had never heard of Madame Restell until now. This is my thing! This isn't just a book about Restell though. This is a rehashing of the things women have gone through in the last few centuries.
This is underlining our rights and the rights we just lost.
Birth control is freedom and abortion is medical care.
This book is a gift.
The narration was wonderful!

I think it is very important for women to read this book and know about Madame Restell. I feel like her story is untold. The narrator did an amazing job in this audiobook. Although the book is informative and I feel every female should know the details of the process of gaining our rights to our freedoms. I felt lost in the book. It didn't capture me as much as I thought it would. I did enjoy receiving the information which is why I rated it 3 stars because it's important to know our history.

More than a biography, this book is the story and history of abortions in New York and the shift in medical care from midwives to men with MDs, told through the life and work of one extraordinary woman who bravely advertised and procured all services one could need to safely prevent, deliver, or end a pregnancy. 


Sometimes you learn something new and wonder how you spent the rest of your life not already aware of this information. I had never read about the many negative consequences of the development of the OBGYN field, how doctors fought millennia old knowledge and expertise from midwives, and caused useless pain and deaths. 
I also didn't know how recent it is in the history of the United States that people started arguing against abortions, especially in the first trimester. 


An absolutely important book, both for the value in knowing and understanding the past but also for its ability to reframe and explain the current state of abortion rights in the country, and the politics of pregnancies. 


Review of the book:
5 stars
The book is so interesting, the pacing keeps you hooked the whole time wondering what will happen to Madame Restell and how the laws are going to change or be applied.

Review of the audiobook:
5 stars
The narrator's voice is very easy to understand and listen to, even at speeds up to 2.5x.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to read this ARC.

I love a good history book and this one delivered. I consider myself both a feminist and a historian and therefore I found the story of Madame Restell and the work she did for the women of NYC to be fascinating. I think it jumped around a bit at times but overall was a very enjoyable audio book.

Considering the reversal of roe vs wade in the USA, I was curious to learn more of the history of abortion in North America. I am well aware of the pro-choice and pro-birth sides, considering I have been on both sides of it. In the end, women are the ones who pay the price for men’s decisions on the legality of their health care.

I found this story of Madame Restell interesting. She put her life on the line to help women, both with contraceptives and abortions. A true feminist, helping women have a choice in their life and fate.

It took a while for me to get into this book, and I almost stopped. But after a while I got more interested.

It’s good to learn more of the history of abortion health care, and contraception, to ensure we do our best not to repeat history.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I am a huge fan of history but sometimes the reading can be a little dry but that is absolutely NOT the case with this book! I was surprised how easy this was to get through, I have received an audiobook copy and the narration was easy on the ears and the authors style was not difficult to follow. I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the pioneers of medicine, feminism and history/culture in general. Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy!

As I've gotten older, I've really liked reading about historical events and people. I like both digging deeper into well-known events as well as finding out about new items I haven't heard about. This book is the latter for me.

Madame Restell AKA Ann Lohman was a physician that attended to women's reproductive health issues, including most infamously abortion, during the middle of the 19th century in New York. There were others that were competing with her in this field, but she is probably the most famous. It was very interesting to learn about peoples' thoughts at this time on abortion, birth control, adoption, and women in general. She had to go through a lot to get her clients the help they needed.

As far as the writing, I have a couple of little things that irked me. The author used two words a couple times that didn't fit with the rest of the writing style - "specious" and "antebellum". They both sounded out of place to me the first time they were used. Then when they appeared again, I thought the author (and editor) definitely should've used another word. The other thing I noticed was mentioning something twice in the exact same way. The best example of this was the passage of seduction laws in New York, where a man could be charged with a crime when he promised a favor to a woman in exchange for sex, but then he wouldn't follow through on his part. The first time mentioning this was fine. However, it came up once more with the exact same language and I seriously thought something went wrong with the audiobook I was listening to.

Overall, this was an interesting book and I got to learn more about an aspect of New York history I hadn't heard of before.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for an ARC audiobook in exchange for an honest review.