PRESS
2023
Heather Marshall’s Book ‘Looking For Jane’ In The Works As Series From Celeste Parr, BentFrame Film & TV & Cineflix Studios:
Deadline – February 17, 2023
Review: Looking for Jane is gripping, historical, relevant:
The Associated Press – February 6, 2023
CBC The Newsroom with Hannah Thibedeau: Abortion Access after Roe:
CBC News – January 24, 2023 (video)
Looking for Jane celebrates its 27th total week on the Canadian bestseller lists:
The Toronto Star – January 25, 2023
2022
The Best Canadian Fiction of 2022
CBC Books – December 6, 2022
24 Canadian Books to Get the Historical Fiction Fan this Holiday Season
CBC – November 30, 2022
The Globe 100: The Best Books of 2022
The Globe and Mail – December 2, 2022
‘Looking for Jane’ Chronicles Canada’s history of adoption, ‘maternity homes’, and abortion:
The Toronto Star – May 30, 2022
Looking for Jane maintains hold on the Canadian bestseller lists for the 11th consecutive week:
The Toronto Star – May 18, 2022
Looking for Jane is STYLE Canada’s pick for their Boreal Book Club:
STYLE Canada – April 28, 2022
Atria Books pre-empts US rights to Looking for Jane:
March 23, 2022
8 Books That Shaped Me as a Writer:
The 49th Shelf – March 21, 2022
Looking for Jane tops the Canadian bestseller list for the 2nd week in a row:
The Toronto Star – March 17, 2022
New Novel Looks at Canada’s Underground Abortion Network:
CTV Your Morning – March 14, 2022 (video)
A Mother’s Work: History and fiction mingle in story about women’s reproductive rights:
Postmedia – March 12, 2022
Looking for Jane is an instant #1 National Bestseller:
The Toronto Star – March 9, 2022
Looking for Jane on The Agenda with Nam Kiwanuka:
TVO – March 8, 2022 (video)
5 Enthralling New Books by Canadian Women:
Chatelaine – March 7, 2022
Heather Marshall: Shaping Women’s History Through Storytelling:
The Brand is Female (Podcast) – March 1, 2022
“We can’t get complacent”: Looking for Jane is a page-turner with an agenda:
She Does the City – March 1, 2022
Interview: Looking for Jane:
Canadian Living – April 2022
Review: Heather Marshall’s historical novel about forced adoption in Canada explores the repercussions of restricting abortion, a reminder of what’s at stake in the fight for reproductive rights:
Zoomer – February 25, 2022
Review: Timely and Engaging Looking for Jane Deals Sensitively with Harrowing Topics:
The Globe and Mail – February 19, 2022
Looking for Jane receives a glowing review from Girl Well Read
Girl Well Read – January 22, 2022
66 Works of Canadian Fiction to Watch For in Spring 2022:
CBC Books – January 11, 2022
2021
Author Genevieve Graham names Looking for Jane as a must-read preorder:
Toronto Star – June 25, 2021
PRAISE
“Heather Marshall has pulled off a remarkable feat with this vital and incisive tale. It is at once an urgently necessary read and a pleasure to spend time with. The characters felt like friends, their story deeply essential to my own existence. A brave, generous, capable exploration of what it means to be a mother, to be a woman, and to stand up for inexorable truths.”
– Marissa Stapley, New York Times bestselling author of Lucky (a Reese’s Book Club pick)
“Heather Marshall shines a spotlight on the unsettling truths and heartbreaking realities faced by women of every generation. Looking for Jane is a compelling, courageous must-read about motherhood and choice.”
– Genevieve Graham, USA Today and #1 bestselling author of The Forgotten Home Child
“Looking for Jane is an original and poignant story that holds a mirror to the ongoing fight for women’s rights. In reflecting on a dark spot in Canadian history, Heather Marshall speaks to the power of solidarity and of brave women who dare to take a stand.”
– Ellen Keith, bestselling author of The Dutch Wife
“Looking for Jane is a beautifully written meditation on the lengths mothers will go to for their children as well as an eye-opening history of women. It is an ode to the doctors, nurses, and volunteers who fought for the rights of future generations to have a say over their bodies. This gracefully entwined story of three generations of women, societal mores, and mothers and daughters stole my heart.”
– Janet Skeslien Charles, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Library
“On its surface, Looking for Jane is an emotionally charged, meticulously researched and deftly plotted book about an underground abortion service operating in the years before abortion was legalized, but in truth, it’s so much more than that. It’s a masterful debut about motherhood and choices, the things we keep, the things we lose, and the things that stay with us and change us at our core forever. Weaving together the tales of three women with a shared connection across the decades, Marshall tackles a time in the very recent past when women seeking an abortion, oftentimes after a rape, had to risk their lives or freedom to get one. Regardless of how you feel about the subject, this is not just an emotional read about tragedy, choice, courage, and fate, but also an important one, which puts a very human face to a complex issue. A searing, important, beautifully written novel about the choices we all make and where they lead us—as well as a wise and timely reminder of the difficult road women had to walk not so long ago.”
– Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author of The Forest of Vanishing Stars
“Marshall’s masterful novel succeeds on multiple fronts: as a poignant celebration of motherhood, and a devastating reminder of the consequences of denying women the right to choose. Fierce, beautifully written, and unforgettable.”
– Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Magnolia Palace
“A compelling story of three women whose lives become entwined as they each fight for the right to make their own choices about their bodies and motherhood. Beautifully written, with a cast of strong female characters I was rooting for from start to finish. I loved it.”
– Caroline Bishop, author of The Other Daughter
“A fascinating and compelling story peopled with strong, brave women who had me cheering them on and moved to tears.”
– Tracy Rees, author of The Rose Garden
“Marshall vividly brings to life the dangers involved with operating Jane… a page-turner… readers will be moved by the courage and thoughtfulness with which these characters face their dilemmas.”
– Publishers Weekly
“Marshall makes an absorbing debut with a timely novel about the complexities of pregnancy and motherhood… [a] deftly braided narrative, Marshall keeps the tension high as she reveals the devastating consequences of denying women autonomy over their bodies. A charged topic handled with sensitivity and compassion.”
– Kirkus Reviews