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All You Have to Do Is Call

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 “[A] powerful, thought-provoking novel… not only important and timely, but deeply humanizing.” —Good Morning America

“Remarkable.” —The Washington Post

“Powerful. Dramatic. Insightful…. It’s not only a timely novel, but storytelling at its finest – a must-read.” —NPR

An NPR Books We Love selection for 2023

A gripping and uplifting novel based on the true story of the Jane Collective and the brave women who worked in the shadows for our right to choose, from the USA Today bestselling author of The Paris Bookseller.

Chicago, early 1970s. Who does a woman call when she needs help? Jane.

The best-known secret in the city, Jane is an underground health clinic composed entirely of women helping women, empowering them to embrace their futures by offering reproductive counseling and safe, illegal abortions. Veronica, Jane’s founder, prides herself on the services she has provided to thousands of women, yet the price of others’ freedom is that she leads a double life. When she’s not at Jane, Veronica plays the role of a conventional housewife—a juggling act that becomes even more difficult during her own high-risk pregnancy.

Two more women in Veronica’s neighborhood are grappling with similar disconnects. Margaret, a young professor at the University of Chicago, secretly volunteers at Jane as she falls in love with a man whose attitude toward his ex-wife increasingly disturbs her. Patty, who’s long been content as a devoted wife and mother, has begun to sense that something essential is missing from her life. When her runaway younger sister, Eliza, shows up unexpectedly, Patty must come to terms with what it really means to love and support a sister.

In this historic moment, when the personal was nothing if not political, Veronica, Margaret, and Patty risk it all to help mothers, daughters, sisters, and friends. With an awe-inspiring story and appealing characters, All You Have to Do Is Call celebrates the power of women coming together in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

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I genuinely wanted to love this. The Jane story is fascinating and inspiring but I just didn’t find that in any of the characters who come across as a bunch of bored middle class housewives. My mother was the same age as these characters, my dad was employed and she had 3 children in 1972. The idea of not working would be totally unthinkable but then she was a working class child of immigrants. Equally the author makes the point she wants to show that people supporting abortion or having one were mothers, wives, husbands and not other. Sadly this has led her to exclude the other from the story. Each patient has a “good “ reason for being there while ignoring the people who went against taboos of having consensual sex with many partners or women who just did not want children. This means that overall it’s the story of a bunch a mothers and their tedious relationships with men.

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