Happening by Annie Ernaux

Happening — a narratively presented autobiographical account of Ernaux's search for an illegal abortion during her undergraduate years in the early 1960s — begins with a visit to the hospital for an HIV test. While there, she is reminded of her battle to have an abortion in Paris in 1963, when abortions were considered illegal, immoral, and shameful. This brief framing device of a fast glimpse into the HIV test of the future aids in rapidly reminding the reader of context - how world perceptions are changeable and alter with time and law.

The abortion scandal of the previous generation is this age's AIDS panic. The storyline of this, one of the most remarkable French books, follows Ernaux's life as a twenty-year-old student who finds herself pregnant and has no desire to retain the kid.

Link to read: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/399262