Counting Backwards by Jacqueline Friedland is a compelling and timely novel that weaves together two seemingly unrelated stories separated by a century, yet bound by an unsettling thread of reproductive injustice. Friedland tackles complex topics with both sensitivity and unflinching honesty, creating a narrative that is as educational as it is emotionally gripping.
The novel alternates between the present-day story of Jessa Gidney, a corporate attorney whose career has stalled, and the historical narrative of Carrie Buck, a young woman in 1920s Virginia whose reproductive rights are violated in a case that reaches the Supreme Court. Though fiction, Carrie’s story is based on the shocking real-life Buck v. Bell Supreme Court case that upheld forced sterilization laws—a case that, disturbingly, has never been overturned.
Friedland’s Narrative Power
What makes Friedland’s writing particularly effective is her ability to humanize complex legal and ethical issues without simplifying them. She doesn’t shy away from portraying the dehumanizing systems that target vulnerable women, yet she maintains a compassionate lens throughout. The parallel stories of Jessa and Carrie illuminate how systemic oppression of women’s bodily autonomy continues across generations, albeit in different forms.
Friedland’s prose is accessible yet nuanced, moving seamlessly between contemporary legal jargon and the more straightforward historical narrative. This stylistic choice effectively highlights the class and educational differences between her protagonists while ensuring both voices remain authentic and compelling.
Contemporary Relevance That Cuts Deep
The novel’s exploration of forced sterilization in immigrant detention centers is jarringly relevant, drawing from recent real-life allegations that emerged from facilities in Georgia and elsewhere. Friedland’s fictional Hydeford Detention Center becomes a microcosm for examining how power, profit, and prejudice can combine to strip women of their reproductive choices—particularly women of color and those from marginalized communities.
What elevates this novel above a mere “issue book” is Friedland’s refusal to create simplistic heroes and villains. Even Jessa, our contemporary protagonist, must confront her own complicity when she discovers her great-grandfather’s role in the American eugenics movement. This nuanced approach invites readers to consider their own positions within systems that continue to harm vulnerable women.
Character Development That Drives the Narrative
Jessa Gidney: A Woman Coming Into Her Own
Jessa’s character arc is particularly compelling as she evolves from someone primarily concerned with career advancement and achieving pregnancy to a woman willing to risk everything to fight injustice. Her journey from playing it safe to challenging systemic oppression feels authentic, with setbacks and doubts along the way. Her relationship with her husband Vance serves as an effective subplot, highlighting how even loving partnerships can become stifling when one person must conform to another’s expectations.
Jessa’s struggle with infertility adds a poignant layer to her advocacy for the detained women. Her personal pain makes the violations occurring at Hydeford all the more devastating to her, yet Friedland wisely avoids suggesting that personal connection is necessary for empathy or action.
Carrie Buck: Voice Restored to Historical Figure
Perhaps the greatest achievement of the novel is Friedland’s portrayal of Carrie Buck, whose voice and agency were stolen in both life and historical record. Rather than depicting Carrie as a passive victim, Friedland shows her resilience, intelligence, and dignity in the face of incredible injustice. Through diary entries and a first-person narrative, Carrie emerges as a fully realized character whose determination to survive and find happiness despite overwhelming odds is deeply moving.
Structural Strengths and Weaknesses
The alternating timeline structure works effectively, with each narrative thread informing and enriching the other. As Jessa discovers more about her family’s history and the Buck v. Bell case, readers gain crucial context for understanding Carrie’s experiences. Meanwhile, Carrie’s story provides historical grounding that highlights the persistence of reproductive injustice across generations.
If the novel has a structural weakness, it may be in the somewhat idealized resolution of the contemporary storyline. While Friedland doesn’t provide a fairy-tale ending, the relatively swift progress of the class action lawsuit and congressional investigation stretches credibility somewhat, given the typically glacial pace of such proceedings. However, this choice serves the narrative arc effectively, if not perfectly reflecting legal reality.
Thematic Depth That Rewards Close Reading
The novel explores several interconnected themes with remarkable depth:
Bodily autonomy as fundamental human right: Through both storylines, Friedland demonstrates how control over one’s reproductive capacity is essential to personal freedom and dignity.
The persistence of eugenics thinking: The novel deftly shows how eugenics ideology, though rejected in name, continues to influence policy and medical practice regarding who should reproduce.
Intergenerational trauma and healing: Jessa’s discovery of her great-grandfather’s role in the eugenics movement leads to her own reckoning with family legacy and responsibility.
Self-determination versus social expectations: Both protagonists must ultimately choose between conforming to others’ expectations and determining their own paths.
The power of personal narrative: Carrie’s journal becomes a powerful symbol of how preserving one’s story can impact future generations.
Historical Accuracy That Educates While Entertaining
Friedland’s research into the Buck v. Bell case and the American eugenics movement is evident throughout the novel. She incorporates actual quotes from Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.’s chilling Supreme Court opinion and accurately portrays how American eugenics research informed Nazi racial policies. This historical grounding lends credibility to the fictional elements while providing readers with important historical context that remains shockingly relevant.
The author’s note further illuminates the real-life inspiration behind the novel, explaining how the Buck v. Bell case has never been overturned and detailing the parallels between historical eugenics practices and contemporary allegations of medical abuse in immigration detention facilities.
A Few Narrative Shortcomings
Despite its considerable strengths, the novel occasionally falls into predictable patterns, particularly in the development of Jessa’s relationship with her husband. The gradual dissolution of their marriage, while believable, follows a somewhat familiar trajectory. Additionally, some supporting characters, particularly in the contemporary timeline, could be more fully developed. Dustin, for instance, transitions rather abruptly from antagonist to potential love interest without sufficient exploration of this change.
The novel also occasionally relies on coincidence to move the plot forward, such as Vance’s convenient workplace connection to Hydeford’s corporate owner. While these moments don’t significantly detract from the overall impact, they do occasionally interrupt the otherwise realistic flow of the narrative.
Comparative Context
Counting Backwards joins other powerful works exploring reproductive justice and women’s autonomy, such as Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s Take My Hand and Christina Baker Kline’s Orphan Train. Like these novels, Friedland’s work illuminates historical injustices while connecting them to contemporary concerns.
Compared to Friedland’s previous works, including He’s Making You Crazy and Trouble the Water, Counting Backwards represents a significant step forward in terms of thematic ambition and historical scope. While maintaining her accessible prose style, Friedland tackles more complex social and ethical questions than in her earlier novels.
Final Assessment
Counting Backwards is a thought-provoking, emotionally resonant novel that masterfully interweaves historical fact with compelling fiction. By connecting past and present injustices, Friedland creates a narrative that is both timely and timeless, illuminating how the struggle for reproductive autonomy continues across generations.
The novel’s greatest strengths lie in its empathetic characterization, meticulous historical research, and unflinching examination of how power, prejudice, and profit can combine to violate women’s most fundamental rights. While occasionally relying on convenient plot developments, the overall narrative maintains its credibility and emotional impact.
Friedland has crafted a novel that educates as it entertains, leaving readers with a deeper understanding of a shameful chapter in American history while inspiring reflection on how similar injustices persist today. For readers interested in women’s history, reproductive justice, or simply compelling character-driven fiction, Counting Backwards offers a rewarding and thought-provoking experience.