Published in 2025
250 pages
Karin Wells is a well-known CBC radio documentarian and a lawyer. Her books tell the often overlooked stories of remarkable Canadian women, including The Abortion Caravan, shortlisted for the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing, and More Than a Footnote. Karin lives in Port Hope, Ontario.
What is this book about?
Behind every “landmark case” is a woman with a story.
“Who was the woman trying to convince a jury in a tiny courthouse in Nova Scotia that it was self-defense when she killed her partner; and who was the young woman walking into the palais de justice in small-town Quebec arguing that it was her choice, not his, to have an abortion? What was it that pushed these women on, even when the lawyers said it was hopeless?”
From the award-winning author of The Abortion Caravan and More Than a Footnote, Karin Wells once again pulls us into the lives—and this time, the legal trials—of a group of women integral to the advancement of women’s rights in Canada. Eliza Campbell, Chantale Daigle, Jeannette Corbiere Lavell—these Women Who Woke Up the Law often had no idea what they were facing in the courts, or the price they would have to pay. Some never saw justice themselves, but they left a legal legacy. Their bold determination is something we need now more than ever to guard the hard-won gains in women’s rights.
