Madame Restell

The Life, Death, and Resurrection of Old New York's Most Fabulous, Fearless, and Infamous Abortionist

By: Jennifer Wright

Narrated by: Mara Wilson

Length: 14 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

This sharp, witty Gilded Age medical history spotlights the glamorous Madame Restell, a fearless birth control provider and abortionist for unmarried women in New York City, in defiance of persecution from powerful men.

Madame Restell is a sharp, witty Gilded Age medical history which introduces us to an iconic, yet tragically overlooked, feminist heroine: a glamorous women’s healthcare provider in Manhattan, known to the world as Madame Restell. A celebrity in her day with a flair for high fashion and public, petty beefs, Restell was a self-made woman and single mother who used her wit, her compassion, and her knowledge of family medicine to become one of the most in-demand medical workers in New York. Not only that, she used her vast resources to care for the most vulnerable women of the city: unmarried women in need of abortions, birth control, and other medical assistance. In defiance of increasing persecution from powerful men, Restell saved the lives of thousands of young women and, in fact, as author Jennifer Wright says in own words, “despite having no formal training and a near-constant steam of women knocking at her door, she never lost a patient.” Restell was a revolutionary who opened the door to the future of reproductive choice for women, and Wright brings Restell and her circle to life in this dazzling, sometimes dark, and thoroughly entertaining tale.

In addition to uncovering the forgotten history of Restell herself, the book also doubles as an eye-opening look into the “greatest American scam you’ve never heard about”: the campaign to curtail women’s power by restricting their access to healthcare. Before the 19th century, abortion and birth control were not only legal in the United States, but fairly common, and public healthcare needs (for women and men alike) were largely handled by midwives and female healers. However, after the Birth of the Clinic, newly-minted male MDs wanted to push women out of their space—by forcing women back into the home and turning medicine into a standardized, male-only practice. At the same time, a group of powerful, secular men—threatened by women’s burgeoning independence in other fields—persuaded the Christian leadership to declare abortion a sin, rewriting the meaning of “Christian morality” to protect their own interests. As Wright explains, “their campaign to do so was so insidious—and successful—that it remains largely unrecognized to this day, a century and a half later.” By unraveling the misogynistic and misleading lies that put women’s health in jeopardy, Wright simultaneously restores Restell to her rightful place in history and obliterates the faulty, fractured reasoning underlying the very foundation of what has since been dubbed the “pro-life” movement.

Thought-provoking, character-driven, funny, and feminist as hell, Madame Restell is required reading for anyone and everyone who believes that when it comes to women’s rights, women’s bodies, and women’s history, women should have the last word.

Audiobook features an exclusive conversation between author and narrator.

©2023 Jennifer Wright (P)2023 Hachette Books

Critic reviews

"The narrator, former child-star Mara Wilson, expertly delivers this well-researched and often wonderfully irreverent title. Wilson perfectly captures Wright’s tone, which ranges from informative to righteously indignant to heartfelt, especially... where the author reveals her struggles with fertility and her daughter’s difficult birth. VERDICT: Given the changing legislation on abortion, Wright’s extraordinary feminist history, featuring an impassioned performance by Wilson and a lively discussion between author and narrator, is essential for all library collections."—Library Journal

"Mara Wilson’s engaging, lyrical voice is a suitable match for Jennifer Wright’s biography. In pre-Gilded Age New York City, Madame Restell was a healer and chemist who created and provided reliable birth control and abortion solutions for women who needed help. Wilson deftly navigates the serious medical information and evokes empathy for women who need to end pregnancy for a variety of reasons. Restell was not always well liked but still managed to create a fortune for herself and help countless women. With its quotes from newspapers and journals of the time, this audio provides listeners with much to learn and enjoy."—AudioFile

Must read

Liked the through history involved in Madam Restell and in abortion and women's issues throughout the Golden Ages. Also enjoyed the interview at the end, more insite into the author and the women picked to preform the reading of this book.

An important and timely read

Madam Restell is a well-rounded, flawed character in Wright’s telling, just as I’m sure she was in life. The ups and downs of her life and trade paint a picture of the cyclical nature of American morals and the universal truth that women have and will always take control of their own bodies, whether it is deemed appropriate by men or not. Wonderfully written by Wright and well read by Wilson, the sass and snark of this badass woman comes through along with her unlikely journey to the American dream. Will recommend to all my friends! If nothing else, I will make everyone I can find read the epilogue!

Should be read by all

This is superbly written and amazingly performed. It was a book I hardly wanted to turn off. It does a fantastic job setting the scene of when Madame Restell lived and worked while telling her story from what records are available. It should be read by everyone. I will recommend it to everyone.

A Must Read

About the historical cycles of healthcare for women. We have not come that far. The battle must continue till women gain their full equality.

Thankful for this book

Loved it! A must read. So glad I came across it. Can’t stop thinking about it!

A wonderful look at a fascinating woman

TW: discussions of abortions, rape, sexual harassment/coercion in the workplace, alcoholism, homelessness, starvation, abandonment of children, death of children, drug overdose (including in children), sex work, death of husband, incest, child kidnapping, incarceration, racism, lynching, the Civil War, torture, death of family members, suicide.

“Restell was a businesswoman, a scofflaw, an immigrant, and an abortionist. She made men really, really mad. She deserves a place in the pantheon of women with no fucks left to give.”

Ann Trow, aka Madame Restell, was a well known 19th century abortionist who spent her life helping women. Madame Restell is a woman who should be a name that you would think would be pretty well known to women, especially with the current fight to protect abortion rights, but sadly, she has mostly been forgotten, probably because she was really hated for what she did.

Restell’s story was a fascinating one of an immigrant coming to America with a husband and child hoping for a better life and quickly finding that it was just as hard to survive here as it was in Britain. After her husband died, things got worse for Ann but she was an extremely hard worker and eventually started working as an abortionist, which eventually became successful. So successful that she became one of the wealthiest women in the city and had a beautiful horse drawn carriage, lavish dresses, and the best education for her daughter.

While Restell did help many women by providing access to abortions, we also see that she was a flawed person. She wasn’t doing this to help women because it was the right thing to do but because it would make her money. We also see her do some very not nice things, like kidnap an unwed woman's newborn baby because she thought the woman would be better off without the child. Restell was arrested several times for providing abortions and was jailed for over a year for doing the right thing for these women, even if she was doing it for the profit.

When I started this book, I knew nothing about Ann Trow, 19th century abortion history, Anthony Comstock and the Comstock laws, and everything else women had to deal with during this time period. Ann Trow Sommers (Madame Restell) was a fascinating woman who lived her life on her terms and said fuck you to anyone who got in her way. She fought for everything she had and she died on her own terms instead of letting her haters destroy her. While I don’t like some of the things she did, I really enjoyed learning about this remarkable woman and how important she was for so many women in New York during the 1800’s. Also, it was remarkable that she reportedly never had any deaths from her abortions.

“American’s are entering a new age of Comstockery, where if women do not want to be mothers, they will be made to be.”

I highly recommend this book if you are interested in learning about remarkable women performing illegal abortions successfully when surgery was still extremely dangerous and abortions were illegal, and now are again. Also, the epilogue is really poignant right now and discusses our current situation with the overturning of Roe v Wade.

Compelling narrative about a multifaceted woman

I read a lot of bios of historical women, but I had never heard of Madame Restell—more’s the pity!

This book nestles an outrageous and flawed character within the laws and moeurs of the Gilded Age, providing context and flavor to just how brave Mme Restell actually was.

A delightful read and excellent percy the narrator. Love the bonus interview with the author and narrator at the end!

One of my favorite new books!

This is how I’d like to right historical books someday. Really inspirational and an amazing story!

reality, honest unwavering truth!

This flawed woman was a madame because she walked her talk, and this story talked the true walk of her life. Abortion is real, it is exploited, ridiculed, and uncontrollable.
Madame Restell knew the ugly side of love, passion, and the reality of want, especially when the cargo of love is unwanted. this book frees the reader to see past the surface to the other side of marital responsibility, man or wife. Tradition is a rule designed to become untraditional.
The "Leave it to Beaver" conundrum makes the
reality of feminine strength the unspoken word of human sexuality, now the voice of female charge. It is time to share responsibility in pro-choice to to realize the pro-life advocates are but one of the choices, not an authority on anti-abortion. Pro-choice understands that pregnancy is a blessing and a curse. Men, government, or anyone other than the woman with child should allow her to decide her fate and the fate of her child. It's her business!

A Boss Queen

Fascinating history - Madame Restell was a Boss Queen! An ominous warning of where the US might return with the overturn of Roe v. Wade. Narration is a little a little slow for my tastes, but easily fixable by listening at 1.2 speed.