I picked up Counting Backwards by Jacqueline Friedland because I was extremely interested in the subject matter. I wrote several college research papers on American eugenicists and their impact on the Third Reich and have always found that aspect of history to be incredibly important and saddening.

I think this novelization of a real 1924 court case (as the author's note describes) was a great representation of not only how women were persecuted in the early 20th century but also how it continues into today's world with women who did nothing except try to immigrate to the US. The emotional beats were definitely spot-on.

The reason this didn't quite make it all the way to 5 stars for me is because the pacing seemed a bit weird. The last 20% - and the epilogue - were the most interesting parts of the story to me. The first three-quarters of the book or so, in Jessa's story, were very much focused on her fertility struggles and her relationship with her husband, which was definitely emotionally related to her work with the women in the ICE facility, but I think it could've been a slightly lesser point of the story. I would've preferred more focus on the victims and how Jessa and her team were helping them.

Despite this, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who was interested in this aspect of history that is often under the radar. I thought the audiobook narrators did a fantastic job, and enjoyed the alternating voices in the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.