A novel that is based on the life of a true-life midwife who lived and worked in post-Revolutionary War Maine. The author is well aware of Chekhov’s dictum that if there is a gun in the first act, it has to go off in the second. I had to go back and reread that earlier conversation between Martha Ballard and her husband Ephraim after the, ahem, well, ‘attack’ is the word that is probably the best descriptor of the, ah, event, at the end.
Ephraim is a wonderful man. When Martha complains about a strand of gray hair, saying “It makes me feel old,” Ephraim replies
“Well, it makes me feel like a king…Only a fool would be upset to find a vein of silver running through his beloved territory.”
And Martha thinks
Well, is it any surprise that we had nine children?
Nope. Well written, with a fully realized setting (your toes will freeze right along with Martha’s) and characters all their own selves (not forgetting the horse, or the fox, for that matter), and a plot that concludes in a scene in which justice is richly and resoundingly done. Bravo!
I am reminded of Margaret Lawrence’s trilogy, also about a Maine midwife in this time. This book is much less dour, although you will rage over how, true to the time, Martha’s expertise and opinion are dismissed by the men in power. We have come a long way.
Just not far enough. Yet.