Book Summary and Reviews of Obstetrix by Naomi Kritzer

Obstetrix by Naomi Kritzer

Obstetrix

by Naomi Kritzer

  • Critics' Consensus (4):
  • Publishes:
  • Jun 9, 2026, 208 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

From the Hugo award-winning author Naomi Kritzer comes a tense portrait of a future we desperately hope to escape.

O Lord, deliver us.

Doctor Liz has just been acquitted for performing the last abortion in North Dakota when she's kidnapped.

They're not just any kidnappers, but a fundamentalist cult, deep in the rural west, without respect for law or decency, and in desperate need of an OB/GYN.

Guarded, isolated, without access to the outside world, Liz nevertheless is treated with respect as the only doctor on the compound, but she is very aware of what happened to the last obstetrician they kidnapped.

She must escape, and bring help to the girls trapped at the compound, if it's the last thing she does.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"[An] intriguing if messy novella...Kritzer's premise feels chillingly plausible, but she deflates the impact somewhat with a lackluster climax. Still, it's a tense and timely tale." —Publishers Weekly

"Captivating." —Library Journal

"Chilling, gripping, all too real - a perfect thriller with a razor at the core. Kritzer deeply understands - and deftly weaponizes - the sadism of patriarchy and its religious garb." —Cory Doctorow, author of Enshittification

"Obstetrix is timely, frightening, and deeply satisfying. Wrap it in a blanket and take it home while it's still legal in your state." —Meg Elison, author of The Book of the Unnamed Midwife

This information about Obstetrix was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

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Author Information

Naomi Kritzer

Naomi Kritzer has been re-reading favorite books since childhood, and probably still has passages from A Wrinkle in Time memorized. She writes for both adults and teens, including Catfishing on CatNet and Chaos on CatNet from Tor Teen and Liberty's Daughter from Fairwood Press. Her writing has won the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, the Edgar Award, the Locus Award, and the Minnesota Book Award. Naomi lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with her family and three cats. The number of cats is subject to change without notice.

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