The novel, which was published in February 2022 prior to the June 2022 demise of Rowe v. Wade, is set in snowy Boston, Massachusetts as the city is slammed with five nor’easters in five weeks. It opens on Ash Wednesday. Lent is the favored time for protesting in front of abortion clinics.
Written by Jennifer Haigh, this is the story of Claudia Birch Landau, a divorced 43-year-old who works as a counselor at a Boston clinic officially known as Women’s Options but colloquially known by its address of Mercy Street. Claudia helps women, many of whom are teenagers or abused or poor or terrified (or all of the above), with their unplanned pregnancies. She views it as so much more than a job or even a career; it is her mission, her life’s work. Claudia’s mother, Deb, was 17 when she had her in 1971 and was shunned by her horrified parents. Deb and Claudia lived in an isolated town in Maine in a single-wide trailer, accompanied by Deb’s assorted boyfriends and assorted foster children whom Deb took on for the extra money. It was Claudia’s job—even as a little girl—to care for these fosters.
Claudia smokes marijuana to numb the anguish and fear caused by her job, making regular visits to her friendly dealer, Timmy, who is about her age. Timmy lives in squalor and smokes all day. He is always high and always on alert for getting caught. He dreads the day weed is made legal in Massachusetts, as he has no idea how he will earn a living. With an ex-wife and son living in Florida and no steady (legal) job, Timmy has a full-blown midlife crisis.
Anthony, whom Timmy calls Winky because of a facial tic, is 39 and lives with his mother. He was injured in an accident in the Big Dig and lives on his disability check. He spends his time going to early morning Mass at the local Roman Catholic Church, followed by coffee and doughnuts in the fellowship hall with elderly ladies, and then protesting outside the Mercy Street clinic. One day he shoots a video of Claudia who goes ballistic when she sees a sign that says: “Abortions Cause Breast Cancer.” And then the 68-second video is posted online.
The video is posted by Victor Prine, a 65-year-old man living in “Nowhere” Pennsylvania, who is lonely, angry, and beaten down by life. While he desperately wishes he could have married and had children, he is a fierce, unapologetic misogynist. Using the screenname Excelsior11, he is determined that the white race populate itself and does all he can to fight abortions of white babies. He is filled with hate, angst, and anger against women. Now he is ready to risk everything for his beliefs.
This is a timely and perceptive novel about one of the country’s most polarizing and divisive political issues, and it succeeds for two reasons: excellent storytelling and vivid and bold characters. The topic is harrowing and unsettling, but the story is unflinching, sharp, and triumphant.
