Midwives
A Novel (Oprah's Book Club)
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4.3 • 12 Ratings
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • This modern classic from the author of The Flight Attendant is a compulsively readable novel that explores questions of human responsibility that are as fundamental to our society now as they were when the book was first published. A selection of Oprah's original Book Club that has sold more than two million copies.
On an icy winter night in an isolated house in rural Vermont, a seasoned midwife named Sibyl Danforth takes desperate measures to save a baby’s life. She performs an emergency cesarean section on a mother she believes has died of stroke. But what if—as Sibyl's assistant later charges—the patient wasn't already dead? The ensuing trial bears the earmarks of a witch hunt, forcing Sibyl to face the antagonism of the law, the hostility of traditional doctors, and the accusations of her own conscience. Exploring the complex and emotional decisions surrounding childbirth, Midwives engages, moves, and transfixes us as only the very best novels ever do.
Look for Chris Bohjalian's new novel, The Lioness!
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Among the many achievements of this gripping, insightful novel is the remarkable fullness with which Bohjalian (Water Witches) writes about both the physicality and the spirituality of childbirth. OB/gyn physician Connie Danforth looks back on the events of a wrenching summer when she was 14 and her mother, Sibyl, a Vermont midwife and ex-hippie with a "distaste for most traditional and institutional authority," was on trial for murder. Sybil has successfully home-delivered more than 500 babies, but one freezing March night, the phone line down and the roads impassable, the laboring woman she is attending suddenly suffers what appears to be a fatal stroke. Sibyl saves the child with an emergency C-section only to find herself arrested after her assistant tells police that the operation was performed on a still-living woman. Is there, in fact, blood on Sibyl's hands? Or is she just a target of the hostile New England medical community, whose persecution of midwives dates back to the 17th-century expulsion of Anne Hutchinson from the Massachusetts Bay? As Connie wrestles with increasing doubts about whether or not her mother acted correctly, the Danforth family struggles to remain intact in the face of community ostracism and unrelenting media scrutiny. Readers will find themselves mesmerized by the irresistible momentum of the narrative and by Bohjalian's graceful and lucid, irony-laced prose. His warm, vivid evocations of child-bearing capture the wonder and terror of bringing a baby into the world. With acutely sensitive character delineation, he manages to present all the participants in this drama, from the family members to the grieving widower, as complex, fully realized individuals. This is a story with no obvious villains or heroes, which only renders the tragedy all the more haunting. Movie rights to Columbia Tri-Star; BOMC and QPB alternates.
Customer Reviews
Chilling!
Chilling. You must read to the very last word. And then you’ll read it again! It stays with you. As a labour and delivery nurse, I can honestly say this book will haunt you. A fantastic read.
Midwives
The reading of this book was a quick follow up to two other books which were real accounts of the exciting life of that of nurse midwives. My pregnancies were not the norm and I was cared for by a talented ob-gyn. Besides hospitalizations due to eclampsia my second baby was born twelve weeks premature. After these personal experiences I had little respect for the practice of midwifery.
It wasn't until my daughter became pregnant and chose to have a midwife care for her from inception of my grandchild until six weeks after her birth that this conundrum hit me square in the face. It was a time in my life when my silence was deemed appropriate but I nearly bit right through my tongue to maintain it. I feared for these two precious lives more intensely than I ever had before. Love incites the fiercest emotions. I waited for each update with bated breath. Her second child was easier but still had moments of angst on my part. These children are now very healthy adolescents. It became time to reevaluate my feelings.
Many friends of mine have daughters who have too chosen the care of midwives. They are also happy grandmothers of healthy grandchildren. Life does come full circle. The completion of Midwives has truly left me more open to this option for pregnant moms. There is a place for them in the practice of modern childbirth.
I'm certainly not ready to relinquish my support for the ob-gyns. If a patient's care remains as expected with normal benchmarks I now fully respect and accept the efforts of the midwives entrusted with their care. Honestly, they do offer options that can only serve to enhance the birthing process that young parents wish for.
However, there are those expectant mothers like me who need a higher quality of care for both baby and mom. The problem here is with whom you determine to provide your care. I believe that any conscientious midwife upon the detection of a bumpy ride will refer the patient to an ob-gyn. Nowadays, there is even a time where the qualifications of a perinatologist may be necessary to ensure the birth of a healthy baby.
Finally, Midwives, details the care administered by that of the lay midwife. I believe they can be well intentioned and see this as their chosen life's work. It's this situation with which I cannot approve. If this is such a desired career then further schooling must be undertaken. It just seems to be obvious that a degree in nursing that is followed by two years study of obstetrics must be mandated. If such were the case perhaps the story of those like Charlotte would never come to be. Thank you for the opportunity to share my beliefs. It was a pleasure to read this novel. It's timing for me was well served by my two previous reads. Margaret Gobatto