Seventeen-year-old Doris has dreams of one day leaving the small Georgia town where she lives. When she discovers that she's pregnant, that dream is called into question — unless she can get an abortion. But how can she do that when the town midwife goes to church with her conservative parents? Enter Doris' favorite teacher, who takes her to the Atlanta home of her wealthy childhood best friend, a woman who has offered to pay for the illegal procedure. While she's there and awaiting the doctor, Doris is first scandalized by and then drawn to the influential people who come through the house, civil rights activists and celebrities that she's only read about in the pages of Jet and Ebony. And she's even more shocked to discover that her teacher fits right in. While she still knows she doesn't want a baby, Doris isn't quite sure what she does want, and the changemakers around her make her question everything.
Based loosely on the story of the author's grandmother, this historical fiction novel offers a small slice of life during the the civil rights movement. It's a quiet story without big protests or events, but that only makes it more believable and realistic — after all, life is what happens in the everyday moments between those headline events. Highly recommended.
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