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   Summary and Book Reviews

Midwives: Summary and book reviews of Midwives by Chris Bohjalian, plus links to an excerpt from Midwives and a biography of Chris Bohjalian.

Midwives

Midwives
by Chris Bohjalian
Hardcover: Oct 1998,
372 pages.
Paperback: Oct 1998,
255 pages.

Publication information
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Reading Guide
Reader Reviews

Author Biography
Author Interview
Books by this Author
Critics' Opinion:   very good
Readers' Rating:  Four Stars
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BOOK SUMMARY

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 a stroke. But what if Sibyl's patient wasn't dead--and Sibyl inadvertently killed her?

As Sibyl faces the antagonism of the law, the hostility of traditional doctors, and the accusations of her own conscience, Midwives engages, moves, and transfixes us as only the very best novels ever do.

BOOK REVIEWS

Media Reviews

Very Good  Kirkus Reviews
A classic coming-of-age story in this To Kill a Mockingbird--like reminiscence...a compelling, complex novel.

Very Good  Publishers Weekly
Readers will find themselves mesmerized by the irresistible momentum of the narrative and by Bohjalian's graceful, lucid, irony-laced prose.

Good  Boston Globe
The courtroom settings provide . . . ample suspense, but Bohjalian is equally adept at rendering . . . quieter, individual drama. . . . A writer of unusual heart.

Very Good  People
Superbly crafted and astonishingly powerful. . . . It will thrill readers who cherish their worn copies of To Kill A Mockingbird.

Very Good  Portland Oregonian
A treasure. . . . It is a rare pleasure when a finely written novel also grips us with sheer storytelling power.

Recent Reader Reviews

Rated 5 of 5 of 5 by keilla love
midwives is a nice book!
I really liked the novel midwives. It is really exciting and very breathtaking story.



Rated 3 of 5 of 5 by Sandybeach
Book that Can't Make Up It's Mind
At first I thought this was a Young Adult book, being narrated by a teen, but the language didn't ring true for YA. Nor does it fit into Mystery or Adult Fiction because of the teenage narrator. While I agree it's suspenseful, there's a withheld...   Read More

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