The Women on Platform Two: A Novel

by Laura Anthony

Overview

In 1970s Dublin, all forms of contraception are strictly forbidden, but an intrepid group of women will risk everything to change that in this sweeping, timely novel inspired by a remarkable and little-known true story.

Dublin, 1969: Maura has just married Dr. Christy Davenport and they look forward to growing their family. But as her husband’s vicious temper emerges, Maura worries that her home might never be safe for a child. Meanwhile, her close friend Bernie, a mother of three, learns the devastating news that if she conceives again, her health complications could prove fatal.

Dublin, 2023: A close call makes Saoirse realize that she may never want to be a mother. Little does she know that only a few decades ago, a group of women made this option possible for her. And she’s about to meet one of them...

The Women on Platform Two is a haunting, powerful story of feminine resistance and resilience that reminds us all of where we started—and how far we still have to go.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781668047385
Publisher:	Gallery Books
Publication date:	03/11/2025
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	35,794
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 6.00(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Laura Anthony is a pseudonym for a published author of emotional women’s fiction. She lives in Kildare, Ireland, with her husband and children.

Editorial Reviews

01/20/2025

Anthony, a pseudonym for thriller writer Janelle Harris (See Me Not), delivers an immersive intergenerational story about contraception in Ireland. In a frame narrative set in contemporary Dublin, a young woman named Saoirse meets the elderly Maura on a train when she returns a photo that dropped out of Maura’s scrapbook. The photo depicts Maura with her friend Bernie traveling on the same train to Belfast in 1971, and Maura tells Saoirse the story behind it, beginning with the bond she formed with Bernie in 1969, when both women feared getting pregnant. Maura’s husband, a respected physician, physically abused her, and she worried he would beat their children, too. Meanwhile, Bernie had recently learned that a pregnancy could be fatal. Contraception was illegal in Ireland at the time, and Maura details how Maura and Bernie united with other women seeking to take control of their lives, leading to a memorable train journey to Belfast (the one depicted in the photo) to obtain birth control. It’s an illuminating story of self-determination, and Anthony capably conveys how Maura’s courageous actions resulted in Saoirse enjoying freedoms unavailable to women half a century earlier. Readers will be drawn to this impactful narrative. Agent: Hannah Todd, Madeleine Milburn Ltd. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"Based upon a little-known true event, this haunting and emotional story...could not be timelier. Women in the United States are not the only ones who must fight to protect personal rights, and this powerful novel will remind readers of the fragility of those freedoms.” —Library Journal, starred review

“A hopeful and celebratory tale that demonstrates the non-negotiable imperative that women have control over their own bodies and lives." —Heather Marshall, #1 bestselling author of Looking for Jane and The Secret History of Audrey James

"Heartbreaking, powerful, and ultimately uplifting, I finished it in one giant gulp." —Amanda Geard, author of The Midnight House

"Completely unputdownable—pacy and thrilling and really touching." —Tracy Rees, author of The Rose Garden

“An exciting and tender coming-of-age story about friendship, family, and the forces that shaped Irish women’s reproductive rights . . . An inspiring novel about the liberating paths blazed by Irish women.” —Kirkus

“Based on actual events, this startling reminder of the recent past and its consequences is well worth reading.” —Booklist

“An incredible story of female strength, friendship and resilience . . .I rarely give a book five stars but this book truly deserves it. It is an absolute must-read for lovers of historical fiction!” —The Gloss

From the Publisher

★ 01/01/2025

Dubliner Saoirse loves her partner but is reluctant to commit to having the child he deeply desires. When she picks up a dropped photo and chases after its owner, the encounter triggers the retelling of the daring actions of an intrepid band of women in the 1970s who risked everything to change the Irish laws forbidding all forms of contraception. Sitting on a train bound for Belfast, narrator Maura tells her own story—a fairytale marriage to a handsome doctor who becomes abusive when she fails to conceive—and the stories of her friends with five, eight, or 10 children who risked their lives with each pregnancy and dodgy home birth. When one friend manages to get contraband condoms, she ignites a firestorm of passion to change the oppressive Irish laws and grant women control of their bodies. VERDICT Based upon a little-known true event, this haunting and emotional story from pseudonymous Anthony, who has published women's fiction under another name, could not be timelier. Women in the United States are not the only ones who must fight to protect personal rights, and this powerful novel will remind readers of the fragility of those freedoms.—Susan Clifford Braun

Library Journal

2025-01-18
An exciting and tender coming-of-age story about friendship, family, and the forces that shaped Irish women’s reproductive rights.

It’s 2023, and Saoirse has left the house after an argument with her boyfriend about whether or not to have children. Wandering the streets of Dublin, she ducks into the train station when it starts to rain. While sitting on a bench, she notices a photograph dropped by a stylish elderly woman as she hurries to catch her train. Intrigued, Saoirse picks up the photo and follows the woman onto the train, which is headed to Belfast. By the time she returns the picture, the train has started moving, and Saoirse winds up staying on it, listening to the woman, Maura Flynn, tell the story of her friend Bernie and the events leading up to the photo that was taken of them exactly 52 years ago. Maura worked as a shopgirl in Dublin in the late 1960s, and was thrilled when the dashing Dr. Christopher Davenport showed up to her counter at Switzers department store and asked to take her to the pictures. Soon after they married, however, his charming demeanor gave way to an uncontrollable temper and the perfect life she had imagined for herself quickly turned into a nightmare. Maura’s only lifeline was the other woman in the photograph Saoirse found on the platform: Bernie, a butcher’s wife and devoted yet harried mother of three. Together the two friends navigated marriage, family, and the struggles of being women in Ireland in the 1960s and ’70s. Bernie and Maura’s lives became intertwined with those of other women, including a dressmaker who altered dresses by day and secretly assisted women who didn’t want to be pregnant in the off hours. They grew both closer to each other and to the dangers that threatened them in their society. Inspired by Maura and Bernie’s story, Saoirse returns to her life in the present day with determination to change it for the better.

An inspiring novel about the liberating paths blazed by Irish women.

Kirkus Reviews

Completely unputdownable—pacy and thrilling and really touching.”

author of The Rose Garden Tracy Rees