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About the Author...
A terrifying diagnosis, a genetic defect, and a lifelong fascination with the history of medicine led Jane Rubin to put pen to paper. After an ovarian cancer diagnosis in 2009, Jane, then a healthcare executive, poured her energy into raising research dollars for ovarian cancer and learning more about her familial roots. Her research led her to her great-grandmother, Mathilda (Tillie), who arrived in New York City in 1866, at sixteen married a man twelve years her senior, and later died of ‘a woman’s disease.’ Then the trail ran cold. Jane was left imagining Tillie’s life, her fight with terminal disease, and circumstances surrounding her death. With limited facts, she was determined to give Mathilda an exciting fictional life of her own. Her research of the history of New York City, its ultra-conservative reproductive laws, and the state of medicine during that era has culminated in a suspenseful, fast-paced, two-book historical series. Her engaging characters are confronted with the shifting role of midwives, dangers of pregnancy, the infamous Blackwell’s Workhouse, and the perilous road to financial success. Jane’s other publications include an essay memoir, Almost a Princess, My Life as a Two-Time Cancer Survivor (2009 Next Generation Indie Book Finalist), and multiple articles in the Coping with Cancer periodical. She writes a monthly blog, The Space Between, reflecting on her post- health care career and writing journey. It is available through her website, JaneLoebRubin.com. Jane lives with her husband, David an attorney, in Northern New Jersey. Between them, they have five adult children and seven precious grandchildren. |
About the Books...
The Gilded City Series In the Hands of Women (2023) Threadbare (2024) News and Reviews... Rubin has written a fascinating novel, well-paced and brimming with historical detail. It’s 1905 in New York City, a time and place of dramatic social changes. Hannah Isaacson has graduated from a major university with an MD in obstetrics but faces widespread discrimination as a professional woman. She encounters chronic antisemitism, realistically depicted. One can’t help cheering her on as she fights for decent health care for women, for equality within the medical profession, and for respect in her own personal relationships. Ultimately, In the Hands of Women is a compelling and heartwarming historical novel. - Libby H. O’Connell, Chief Historian Emeritus, History Channel, and author, THE AMERICAN PLATE Vividly written and meticulously researched, In the Hands of Women is a gripping story of female friendship, the challenges women doctors faced in the early 1900s, and the noxious impact of antisemitism. Young obstetrician Hannah Isaacson returns home to her beloved sister and to a job at New York City’s Mount Sinai Hospital in 1905 after becoming one of the first female graduates of the Johns Hopkins Medical School. But Hannah’s passion for helping pregnant women–at a time when birth control and abortion were illegal–puts her life at risk and leads to high-stake confrontations with her fiancé and some of New York’s most powerful men. I lost myself in this novel as I followed Hannah from high-society restaurants and lower East Side tenements to New York City's hospitals and jails … And I cheered for her every step of the way. I’m crossing my fingers Jane Rubin is working on her next tale starring Hannah, her family, and friends. - Mally Becker, Agatha Award-nominated author of THE TURNCOAT’S WIDOW and THE COUNTERFEIT WIFE Jane Rubin’s stunning debut, In The Hands Of Women, is historical fiction at its best. Hannah Isaacson, a young doctor at Mount Sinai Hospital is a force, fighting for women’s healthcare in the early 1900’s. She confronts antisemitism and demands equal treatment in her professional and personal life. With empathy, Rubin takes us through the travails of the medical system when poor women had little access to good maternity care. Her impeccable research weaves the subjects of midwifery and abortion within the intricacies of the twentieth century class system in New York. Rubin’s characters stay with me. They’re compassionate, smart, and strong. Reading this page-turner gave me more than a thrilling read. - Julie Maloney, author and director of Women Reading Aloud, an international writing organization |
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