A Midwife's Tale

Author: Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307772985
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 459

Book Description
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • Drawing on the diaries of one woman in eighteenth-century Maine, "A truly talented historian unravels the fascinating life of a community that is so foreign, and yet so similar to our own" (The New York Times Book Review). Between 1785 and 1812 a midwife and healer named Martha Ballard kept a diary that recorded her arduous work (in 27 years she attended 816 births) as well as her domestic life in Hallowell, Maine. On the basis of that diary, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich gives us an intimate and densely imagined portrait, not only of the industrious and reticent Martha Ballard but of her society. At once lively and impeccably scholarly, A Midwife's Tale is a triumph of history on a human scale.

Tales of a Midwife

Author: Maria Anderson
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 0755362756
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 206

Book Description
Maria Anderson trained as an NHS nurse and went on to become a midwife, a job she has adored for over twenty years. After fainting whilst attending her first three births, Maria went from nervous trainee to assured midwife and in her brilliant memoir she recounts the highs and lows of life inside the maternity unit. From frantic fathers and breaking her hand during a traumatic home birth, to witnessing the delivery of quads and the ultimate devastation of assisting the delivery of a stillborn baby, Maria has had an extraordinary career. Tales of a Midwife is a funny, poignant and heart-warming account of a devoted midwife.

Midwives

Author: Chris Bohjalian
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 1400032970
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 386

Book 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!

The Midwife's Tale

Author: Sam Thomas
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1250010772
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 300

Book Description
In the tradition of Arianna Franklin and C. J. Sansom comes Samuel Thomas's remarkable debut, The Midwife's Tale It is 1644, and Parliament's armies have risen against the King and laid siege to the city of York. Even as the city suffers at the rebels' hands, midwife Bridget Hodgson becomes embroiled in a different sort of rebellion. One of Bridget's friends, Esther Cooper, has been convicted of murdering her husband and sentenced to be burnt alive. Convinced that her friend is innocent, Bridget sets out to find the real killer. Bridget joins forces with Martha Hawkins, a servant who's far more skilled with a knife than any respectable woman ought to be. To save Esther from the stake, they must dodge rebel artillery, confront a murderous figure from Martha's past, and capture a brutal killer who will stop at nothing to cover his tracks. The investigation takes Bridget and Martha from the homes of the city's most powerful families to the alleyways of its poorest neighborhoods. As they delve into the life of Esther's murdered husband, they discover that his ostentatious Puritanism hid a deeply sinister secret life, and that far too often tyranny and treason go hand in hand.

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife

Author: Meg Elison
Publisher: 47north
ISBN: 9781503939110
Category : FICTION
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Book Description
"In the wake of a fever that decimated the earth's population--killing women and children and making childbirth deadly for the mother and infant--the midwife must pick her way through the bones of the world she once knew to find her place in this dangerous new one. Gone are the pillars of civilization. All that remains is power--and the strong who possess it. A few women like her survived, though they are scarce. Even fewer are safe from the clans of men, who, driven by fear, seek to control those remaining"--Back cover.

The Midwife's Apprentice

Author: Karen Cushman
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 0547722176
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 143

Book Description
In a small village in medieval England, a young homeless girl acquires a home and a new career when she becomes the apprentice to a sharp-tempered midwife.

Midwife on Call

Author: Agnes Light
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1444736132
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 350

Book Description
Agnes Light trained as a nurse in the 1960s and went on to become a midwife - helping to bring new lives into the world for over thirty years. After fainting from shock at the first birth she attended as a student, Agnes grew to adore her job and the lifelong friends that worked with her on the maternity ward. In her enchanting memoir, she recalls how she struggled at first with the strict rules of hospital etiquette, and the expectation that she would always know the right thing to do - from dealing with hysterical fathers to miracle multiple births - Agnes quickly learnt she had to keep a cool head whatever the circumstances. This is a heartwarming portrait of a thoughtful and compassionate midwife. Funny, poignant and rich with period detail, Midwife on Call traces Agnes's touching journey from squeamish pupil to assured professional.

The Midwife

Author: Tricia Cresswell
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 1529066840
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 310

Book Description
A haunting and moving debut, The Midwife by Tricia Cresswell is perfect for fans of The Familiars and The Binding. 1830. After a violent storm, a woman is found alone, naked, near death on the Northumberland moors. She has no memory of who she is or how she got there. But she can remember how to help a woman in labour, how to expertly dress a wound and can speak fluent French. With the odds against her – a penniless single woman – she starts to build her life from scratch, using her skills to help other woman around her. She finds a happy place in the world. Until tragedy strikes, and she must run for her life. In London, Dr Borthwick lives a solitary life working as an accoucheur together with his midwife, Mrs Bates, dealing with mothers and babies in both the elegant homes of high society, and alongside a young widow, Eleanor Johnson, volunteering in the slums of the Devil’s Acre. His professional reputation is spotless and he keeps his private life just as clean, isolating himself from any new acquaintances. He is harbouring a dark secret from his past, one that threatens to spill over everything . . .

Midwife for Souls

Author: Kathy Kalina
Publisher: Pauline Books and Media
ISBN: 0819848824
Category : Family & Relationships
Languages : en
Pages : 142

Book Description
Oftentimes caregivers, friends, and family are unsure of what to say and what to do to comfort the sick and the dying. Midwife for Souls provides specific Catholic insight and highlights the power of prayer as a guide. This best-selling book has been revised to include a new section of inspiring stories and lessons learned in hospice ministry.

The Secret Midwife

Author: The Secret Midwife
Publisher: John Blake
ISBN: 1789462533
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 276

Book Description
For fans of One Born Every Minute. The Secret Midwife is a heart-breaking, engrossing and important read. At once joyful and profoundly shocking, this is the story of birth, straight from the delivery room. Strongest supporter, best friend, expert, cheerleader and chief photographer . . . Before, during and after labour the role of a midwife is second to none. The Secret Midwife reveals the highs and lows on the frontline of the maternity unit, from the mother who tries to give herself a DIY caesarean to the baby born into witness protection, and from surprise infants that arrive down toilets to ones that turn up in the lift. But there is a problem; the system which is supposed to support the midwives and the women they care for is starting to crumble. Short-staffed, over worked and underappreciated - these crippling conditions are taking their toll on the dedicated staff doing their utmost to uphold our National Health Service, and the consequences are very serious indeed.