Midwives
by Chris Bohjalian
2020-09-23 02:19:08
In idyllic Reddington, Vt., during the harsh winter of 1981, Sibyl Danforth makes a life-and-death decision based on 15 years' experience as a trusted midwife. Late on a frigid night, cut off from the hospital by a storm that has made the roads impas...
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In idyllic Reddington, Vt., during the harsh winter of 1981, Sibyl Danforth makes a life-and-death decision based on 15 years' experience as a trusted midwife. Late on a frigid night, cut off from the hospital by a storm that has made the roads impassable, Sibyl attempts to save the baby of a woman she fears has died from a stroke during labour. Later, the midwife's assistant tells the police she's certain the mother was still alive when the Caesarean section was performed in the isolated farmhouse. In Midwives, Sibyl's daughter, Connie, narrates the aftermath of this tragedy. Now an obstetrician, she recalls the events of her 14th year, when her mother's freedom and her family's fate rested with 12 men and women. Chris Bohjalian captures the human scale of misfortune with this moving novel.
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