What a Young Wife Ought to Know

In an unflinching look at love, sex, and fertility, and inspired by real stories of mothers during the Canadian birth-control movement of the early-20th century, one of Canada's most celebrated playwrights vividly recreates a couple's struggles with reproduction.
It's Ottawa in the 1920s, before birth control is legalized. Sophie, a young working-class girl, falls madly in love with her sister's suitor, and eventually marries, a stablehand named Jonny. After two difficult childbirths, doctors tell Sophie she shouldn't have any more children, but don't tell her how to prevent it. When Sophie inevitably becomes pregnant again, she faces a grim dilemma.