"The Midwife's Tale" by Delia Parr

Reminiscent of the pastoral works of Elizabeth Gaskell, "The Midwife's Tale" is set in rural Pennsylvania in 1830. Martha Cade has been serving the community as a midwife for many years, following the steps of her esteemed grandmother, and raising her children alone after the death of her husband. Assuming that one day her daughter will apprentice at her side, Martha is devastated to return from a distant birth and discover that Victoria has run away from home - and with a theatrical troupe, at that!

After an unsuccessful attempt to locate Victoria before the company she is with sails for Europe, Martha comes home to find the town of Trinity changed. There's a new young doctor who has been more than willing to step in and deliver babies while she was away, and his presence and practice threaten her life's work. A string of robberies have left citizens on edge and distrustful of one another. Martha decides to take it upon herself to find the culprits and restore peace, but evil is very good at hiding and may still destroy much before she is able to expose it.

I found several things about the book to be quite interesting. I liked that Martha was older than the stereotypical heroine. The whole subplot of choosing doctors or midwives for maternity care is one still going on in real life today, although thankfully bloodletting and leeches are no longer medically acceptable by any care provider! Martha also seeks to look at everything that happens in her life, whether good or bad, as a gift from God, which gave the book a hefty but not preachy spiritual weight.

I should note that very early in the book there was one use of anatomically correct language that took me by surprise only because there has been a bit of an uproar about the use of such words in Christian publishing in the not too distant past. It was not inappropriate in context, and I did not have a problem with it. There are a few birth scenes, although fewer than you might think given the title, but nothing that was overly graphic or shocking if you are familiar with the process.

The story is very gentle and meandering, with a multitude of characters who can seem very unrelated to each other or the plot. I enjoyed the book overall, but it took me quite a while to read and I never felt too invested in what would happen. I would recommend this story to those who enjoy tales of small towns and their quirky citizens. My thanks to the publisher, who provided me a copy of the book in exchange for this honest review. All opinions are my own.