Rate this book

The Midwife Of Hope River (2012)

by Patricia Harman(Favorite Author)

3.96 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

0062198890 (ISBN13: 9780062198891)

languge

English

genre

Historical Fiction

publisher

William Morrow Paperbacks

series

Hope River

review 1: Wonderful book about a midwife in West Virginia in 1930s. Tough times make people tough, there is a lot of troubles in the mining industry and in the country in general but babies keep on coming, regardless of nationality or race.Patience Murphy is running away from her former life as an activist and running away from the memory of the death of her husband and finds comfort helping women at the time of their babies birth. She finds true appreciation among the poor. What makes this book very interesting is the journal she does after the delivery of each baby. The description, methods and use of herbs in those times is very, very good.I am looking forward to another book by Patricia Harman, who was also a midwife in West Virginia
review 2: While this book offers ... morea fascinating look at the life of a midwife in the Appalachia during the Depression, the characters seem a bit flat, hard to picture. The jarring sub-chapters make for a choppy read, with scenes cut abruptly in two by these unnecessary breaks.Through midwife Patience Murphy's eyes, we meet an assortment of characters from a wealthy woman in an abusive marriage to the poorest women imaginable, who cannot even afford to pay for Patience's services. And it is the birth scenes that are the most vivid, the ones that stay with you, written skilfully by the author who worked as a midwife for years:"My helpers ease the mother back on the bed, and the whole baby slides forth. I blow on the little girl's belly, but there's no reaction. I blow again. No grimace, no stretching of arms or grasp. Nothing. I try a few puffs into her nose and mouth, as I did with little William, but still no response. No heartbeat either under the frail chest. The limp body just hangs there between my hands.No everyone is crying. Everyone but the mother, whose eyes roll back in her head as her body goes rigid. She stiffens her arms and screams"Author Patricia Harman has woven two plots together, the past and present lives of Patience, to how she came to live here and why she doesn't use her real name. We see her relationship with Bitsy, a black girl "given" to Patience to help out at home and with the births, grow and strengthen, yet we don't really get a good sense of who Bitsy is as a person. Nor do we get a strong image of the vet with whom Patience strikes up a friendship, Mr. Hester. He is portrayed as a gruff, well-meaning vet who says little. He feels almost like a shadow beside Patience, only partly formed, and Harman often doesn't even use his name, choosing instead to refer to him as the vet. The Midwife of Hope River is an easy read, set against an important part of American history, but it's not a book that will stay with me because the characters are not memorable. less

Download links for: The Midwife of Hope River

Advertising