A Quebec Story Worth Hearing

There aren’t many autobiographical stories from Quebec, written in French, that tell the story of an unexpected pregnancy and a woman’s journey toward parenthood.

That’s what particularly touched me about this book.

The author, Myriam Laflamme Berthelot, isn’t a professional writer. She is a Quebec woman who lived this story and chose to tell it in her own words. And I think that is exactly what gives her story such a sense of authenticity.

She takes us back to the beginning of her story, when she was just 17 and found out she was pregnant. She was still in high school, living with her mother, without a job, and had only known her boyfriend for a few weeks.

Suddenly, she was facing a reality she hadn’t planned for—and a lot of questions.

How am I going to manage financially?

How am I going to continue school?

How am I going to raise a child in these circumstances?

Am I capable of doing this?

Her 17 year old self expressed:

“I have always been against abortion, but more and more I’m afraid I won’t be able to do it, financially or physically. I can’t raise a child in poverty.”

What struck me as I read her story was how familiar some of her concerns were.

At Options, we still hear women asking very similar questions today. The circumstances are never exactly the same, but the fears can be: finances, school, relationships, the future, feeling unprepared, or simply not knowing how they’re going to make it work.

Some women know that abortion is not something they want for themselves, yet still find themselves in circumstances where, at first, they don’t see how they could continue their pregnancy. In her story, abortion even begins to seem like her only option, despite what she wanted for herself.

Then something changes: the people around her step up and tell her that they will support her. Her story shows us what can happen when someone is surrounded by support and no longer has to carry the weight of her circumstances alone.

That’s why I believe it is so important to make space for true stories, in French, of women who have experienced unexpected pregnancies, faced challenges, and found support along the way.

I don’t want to tell you what happens next—because I think her story deserves to be discovered in her own words.

But I wanted to share this book because her story reminds us of something important: when a woman chooses to continue an unexpected pregnancy, she needs to be surrounded by support. She needs to know that she won’t be alone, and that there are people willing to stand beside her.

If you’d like to discover her story, I encourage you to find her book on Amazon (click here).

Sometimes support doesn’t change the circumstances. It changes what feels possible

Review written by: Hannah Hornibrook; Options Lennoxville Executive Director