On an icy winter night of 1981 in the rustic community of Reddington, Vermont, seasoned midwife Sibyl Danforth is forced to make a life-or-death decision that will change her world forever.

Trapped by the weather in an isolated farmhouse, cut off from the hospital or even the emergency squad, she takes desperate measures to save the life of a baby, performing a cesarean section on a woman she believes has died of a stroke during a long and painful labor. But what if the woman was still alive during the surgery? What if Sibyl herself inadvertently killed her?

The hair-raising story of Charlotte Bedford's death and of the subsequent trial of Sibyl Danforth is hauntingly told by Sibyl's fourteen-year-old daughter Connie, now an obstetrician. She is remembering, and it is through her intelligent and watchful eyes that we witness the tragic effects of Charlotte's death and Sibyl's trial. And as Sibyl faces the antagonism of the law, the hostility of the medical establishment, and the nagging accusations of her own conscience, we are compelled to confront questions of human responsibility that are fundamental to our society.

As with all of the very best novels, Midwives provides no easy answers; rather, it consistently engages, moves, and challenges our ways of thinking.

a haunting story that has stayed with me for days and days

women die in childbirth all the time, tho not as often as they did 50/100 years ago
and yet in the past 50 years, society is reducing women's choices for childbirth to hospital or hospital, and homebirth is not seen as a truly acceptable option

i really would have liked to have known more about the midwife assistant, anne - her thoughts, motives; but in the structure of the story - told from the point of view of connie, the daughter - this was not possible

a haunting read indeed

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

sending to L1nda as it is on her wishlist

happy reading
;-)

Thanks for the wishlist book, I look forward to the read.

I finally got around to reading this book. I loved it, Chris Bojalian is a masterful storyteller with the ability to pull the reader into the time, place and internal feelings of the characters.

The ending left me feeling confused and relieved at the same time (not wanting to spoil the book). As LadyIndigo says, a haunting read indeed

Given to Blundery to take home to read.... enjoy

Absconded this from L1nda's bookshelf....... will try REALLY hard to read this book within a year :-)