Oprah Book Club® Selection, October 1998: On a violent, stormy winter night, a home birth goes disastrously wrong. The phone lines are down, the roads slick with ice. The midwife, unable to get her patient to a hospital, works frantically to save both mother and child while her inexperienced assistant and the woman's terrified husband look on. The mother dies but the baby is saved thanks to an emergency C-section. And then the nightmare begins: the assistant suggests that maybe the woman wasn't really dead when the midwife operated.

bookrelay to appaloosatb - Byron, MN USA

This has arrived safely, thank you!

Wow. This was a very gripping story and I found I couldn't put it down until I was done. Thanks for passing it on!

Mailing to the winner of the relay sweepstakes. Have fun with all the new books!! :)

recv'd from appaloosatb for the 2nd relayers sweeps...thank you!

sending to HoserLauren for a reverse relay...enjoy!

Received today, unexpectedly!! I had to look here to find out where it was coming from :)

Thanks for sending it khillz! I'm looking forwards to reading it!

I'm a bit embarrassed at how long it took for me to read this!

In the middle of an ice storm in rural Vermont, Charlotte Bedford goes into labour with her trusted midwive, Sibyl Danforth at her side. After 10 hours of pushing, Charlotte is no further and Sibyl attempts to call an ambulance to take her to a hospital but the lines have been taken down by the ice storm. Taking Sibyl in her car also proves impossible with all the ice on the road. A few more hours of labour seems to cause Sibyl to stroke and no matter how much CPR Sibyl performs, she can't bring Charlotte back. Sibyl then focuses on saving the baby that is still alive within Charlotte.

As soon as the roads clear and the medics come out to Charlotte's house, it's clear the Sibyl requires a lawyer. The police seem to think that Sibyl caused Charlotte's death. Told partially from Sibyl's journal and mostly from her daughter's perspective, this book shows how a family strains under the weight of a criminal trial for something that isn't 100% clear.

This book was very easy to get into and it was easy to relate to Connie, Sibyl's daughter. I didn't find this to be a typical Oprah book, which usually I find to be about woman who have been done wrong by men. In this case, it's a very fuzzy line between right and wrong. An interesting moral question is presented to the reader and I'm sure each person reading has a different opinion about how the trial will end.

The ending to the book provided a perfect final touch. A great Oprah read!

Picked up today at the Oakville Bookcrossing Meetup!