What readers think of All You Have to Do Is Call, plus links to write your own review.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of Kerri Maher’s book, All You Have To Do Is Call.

This is a timely read given the decision of the overturn of Roe v Wade. This decision overturned the longstanding Constitutional right to abortion and eliminated federal standards on abortion access. To think we have gone back 50 years and now have to start over fighting for a God-given, free-will right for women to determine what is best for them and not the government making their decision.

Kerri Maher has written a powerful and compelling novel that is loosely based on the true story of the Jane Collective, based in Chicago, in the early 1970’s. It pays tribute to these brave women who fought for a woman’s right to choose.

This is a pre-Roe v Wade read and the author brings a group of ordinary women together to fight for the right to choose. It is illegal to provide abortions and these women have trained to do a safe abortion, if a woman decides it is best for her. The group of Jane’s lead double lives because of the secrecy of the group and their personal everyday lives. It’s a story of sisterhood and the camaraderie of women helping women; knowing that they can be arrested because of the illegality of what they are doing.

This is a first read for me by this author and I enjoyed reading the advance copy of her book.

All you Have to Do is Call is a historical fiction account of a Chicago organization that assisted women in having illegal abortions before Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in 1973. In 1969, a group of 7 women started "Jane" to help women with confidential safe abortions. This fiction story follows closely to the real life struggles at Jane and details the women's feelings regarding abortion. The organization was made up of "secretive fronts" and was constantly under the threat of being outed for this illegal activity. The women of Jane put their lives on the line by providing illegal abortions. Along the way, Jane gathered some surprising allies to their cause – police officers, doctors and even a priest. For anyone interested in the abortion landscape in America before 1973, this is an interesting fictional account. The author does a good job providing references to the non-fiction accounts of "Jane" that were researched to this book.

Sometimes women need a little help. In early 1970s Chicago, they could call on the Jane Collective to help with a safe abortion. The health organization had an elaborate system of women helping women without judgment. These women were all unique with different motivations for being involved.

This was an interesting and timely book to read in 2023 considering last year's Supreme Court Dobbs ruling. The author presented various viewpoints of women involved in Jane, those that needed Jane's help, and others in the community, like husbands, the police, and a priest.

I am glad to have read this story based on a real group and I am saddened and outraged that in many states we have returned to a time when women cannot legally make choices about their own bodies.

Maher's novel is set a few years before the United States Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade (1973). Maher also provides a look into what residents in many states are currently facing as a result of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision (2022). This book woke me up to the few choices pregnant girls and women had pre-Roe. The commitment of a small group women and men to provide safe, affordable abortions made me realize that there are caring and supportive people that will risk everything for a woman's right to choose. While others will do whatever it takes to prevent abortions, without realistic safety nets in place to prevent unsafe, undesired and/or forced pregnancies. Be sure to read the "Author's Note" at the end of the book to discover the background of this book. This book made me think and contemplate the current plight of girls and women and the choices they may not have.

For fans of Kerri Maher, I must forewarn: this book is NOT The Paris Bookseller, or like anything she has previously written. While this fact is not necessarily a bad thing, it is worth noting that if you are expecting clean, feel-good fiction, you are in for a rude awakening.

All You Have To Do Is Call centers around the controversial Jane Collective, an organization that provided illegal, underground abortions, and the main fictional characters through which the story unfolds. The six main women ebb and flow through each other's lives, weaving together a tale of complex relationships and life choices, and narrate the story of how women fought for control over their bodies in the days prior to Roe v. Wade. The book does a wonderful job of describing the challenges women faced, such as misogyny, reproductive rights, access to birth control, career opportunities and advancement, the never-ending work-life-balance conundrum, and child-rearing. It was eye-opening, to me, to learn that women had almost no access to the the pill unless they were married, and had to endure privacy-invading questions from chauvinistic doctors.

The timing of this book has not been more relevant since Roe v. Wade. In 2023, our country has gone backwards in time and relegated women to the same Dark Ages mentality that continues to trap women in third world countries. While her book tends to get overly melodramatic about some of the characters personal lives, Maher does a thorough job of highlighting why it is important to understand the sins of the past in order to prevent the downfall of the future.

All You Have to do is Call by Kerri Maher brings light to the underground "Jane" network in Chicago that provided abortions to women just prior to such healthcare being legalized in the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision. A core of extraordinary women volunteered hours and hours to train, organize and keep this enterprise afloat. Safe houses, treatment rooms, ties to sympathetic doctors, politicians, mobsters and police were just a part of the many facets that kept Jane operating.
This book is at its best when it highlights Jane and all it's intricacies. Once the book shifts to the relationships each major character, Veronica, Patty, Margaret and others have with their partners, it becomes somewhat trite. I cared about these women without descriptions of their moribund or active sex lives. An encounter between a former wife and current girlfriend of one of the more disliked male characters seemed unnecessary to the plot. I am sure Maher wanted to personalize these amazing activists but I was fine with being aware there were children, other careers and partners that often took a back seat to Jane.
Overall, this book is far more important and timely now that the Dobbs decision gave States a green light to re-criminalize abortion. These incredible women might have to be our role models.

Kerri Maher's novel is loosely based on an actual underground feminist group called "Jane" that provided safe, inexpensive abortions when they were illegal, in the 1970s. Jane's members were always in danger of imprisonment and in fact were arrested and only escaped harsh sentences because Roe v. Wade became the law while the women were awaiting trial.

Maher's novel closely follows three women but includes a host of secondary characters as well. The reader has a clear sense of how intricate the secret network was, of the pressures on it and of the need for it. Each woman has her own reason for being dedicated to Jane, and the many stories are interesting although it is sometimes difficult to keep all the strands clear. Other than that one issue and despite the novel's serious concerns, ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CALL is a fast-moving, enjoyable and thought-provoking read. And despite its events taking place half a century ago, given the Dobbs decision, its concerns are definitely relevant again.

Recommended!

All You Have to Do Is Call by Kerri Maher takes place in the 1970s in an age when women are fighting for control of their own lives from personal choices to working outside the home. It is still a time when women are expected to be in the home, cooking, cleaning, and taking care of children. It is a time when Roe vs. Wade is before the Supreme Court and abortion is illegal. What a timely subject!

This work of fiction is loosely based on a real feminist group called Jane which did exist in Chicago during this time. Veronica is the founder of Jane in this book and is a housewife who is pregnant and leading a double life as someone who completes illegal abortions. Even some of her friends do not know she is a part of Jane. Other characters are Margaret, a young professor secretly volunteering; and Patty, who is against the organization until her wayward sister, Eliza, returns home after a long disappearance. All these women have difficult choices to make. The author does a very good job of developing this story. I would hate to think that we might have to go back to this period in history, but it is a distinct possibility.