15 Comments

  1. Rachael Kiplinger on September 23, 2013 at 11:45 am

    This story was so eye-opening and thought provoking for me. As a girl born in ’67 I was shocked when I read where Jane went to the doctor and asked for the pill only to be turned down until the doctor had permission from her husband. I was taken aback because I remember going to the clinic in town when I was in high school and getting on birth control pills, no questions asked! I didn’t even need for a parent to know, let alone be married and have to ask permission from my husband. This was just the start of the questions I asked myself as I read the book and wondered, “What would I do?” And, sadly, these scenarios existed not that long ago.

    • Diane Chamberlain on September 23, 2013 at 3:31 pm

      I’m glad you were able to get the care you needed as you took responsibility for your own action and choices, Rachael.

  2. Trianna on September 23, 2013 at 11:58 am

    As a new mom to a baby with a disability, I feel like getting through your book will be a struggle, but I look forward to reading it.

    • Diane Chamberlain on September 23, 2013 at 3:31 pm

      I hope you and your baby are doing well, Trianna.

  3. janet jones bann on September 23, 2013 at 1:00 pm

    I entered a women’s college in 1972 in NJ, and Planned Parenthood had a table in the student center with information on birth control. The college had a health center that freely dispensed the pill, and once I even got an early version of the morning-after pill. I’ve always been grateful that I was in an environment where it was so easy to get educated and equipped. It was a given that women had the intelligence and good sense to take care of their own reproductive choices. I didn’t like having my cycle chemically controlled, so I found other options that worked just fine.

    Am I remembering correctly that Margaret Sanger, to whom we owe much of our reproductive freedom (what remains of it), was a proponent of eugenics?

    • Diane Chamberlain on September 23, 2013 at 3:35 pm

      Janet, Margaret Sanger was a rabid eugenicist, but we owe her a lot. I had some very mixed feelings when I did my research!

  4. Lainy SMBSLT on September 23, 2013 at 2:26 pm

    I have bought the book but hadn’t read the blurb, I bought it because I had enjoyed the few of your other books I had read. Looking forward to this one more now

    Lainy http://www.alwaysreading.net

    • Diane Chamberlain on September 23, 2013 at 3:36 pm

      I hope you’ll let me know what you think, Lainy.

  5. Brenda on September 23, 2013 at 7:48 pm

    Powerful book, how far we have come in this country with womens rights..I had no idea how things were back in this era the book was written in.The BC issue, the welfare issue, the right for people to make their own decisions on their lives and not have a state welfare system make them for them because they feel someone is not capable of being a parent. Really enjoyed this book Diane.

    • Diane Chamberlain on September 23, 2013 at 8:00 pm

      Thanks, Brenda.

  6. Lawanda Tidd on September 25, 2013 at 9:35 am

    What a great story! I have read a couple of your books and I have loved you story telling. This was a powerful, heart breaking , in the end happy read.
    I will recommend it for my book club for 2014 book list! They will love it, as they did CeeCee!
    Keep telling your stories Diane!

    • Diane Chamberlain on November 24, 2013 at 7:44 pm

      Thanks Lawanda. I hope your book club decides to read it!

  7. njt on November 24, 2013 at 7:15 pm

    I went to a gynecologist in my early 20’s. He asked me if I was on the pill I said “no” becasue I was not dating anyone at the time. It was the mid-80s when HIV was all in the news. The doctor told me I should be on the pill because even though I was not dating anyone at the time, “if I met a guy tomorrow, I couldnt ask him to wear a condom because that would not feel good to him”. He was more concerned about a fictional man/boy I might meet in the future than my health. Needless to say I didnt go back to him (and unfortunately any other male doctor) ever again.

    ANYWAY…. I saw Necessary Lies on a reading list and checked it out. Great read, interesting storyline and characters. So surprised to see that this sterilization program was real — and up to 1974! Eye opening.

    • Diane Chamberlain on November 24, 2013 at 7:44 pm

      1980s njt? That’s depressing!

  8. Becky Pulley on February 4, 2014 at 1:35 pm

    Hi Diane – As usual your book did not disappoint except that it was over too soon! I bought it on audio so that I could listen on my hourly twice daily trip to and home from work. I think I have now read everything you have wrote, so please write faster:) Your books always bring an awareness about issues – I’m still waiting for you to do one on pediatric cancer

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