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    Midwives: A Novel
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    Midwives: A Novel
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    Midwives: A Novel
    Audiobook (abridged)4 hours

    Midwives: A Novel

    Written by Chris Bohjalian

    Narrated by Kate Burton

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

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

    With a suspense, lyricism, and moral complexity that recall To Kill a Mockingbird and Presumed Innocent, this compulsively readable novel explores what happens when a woman who has devoted herself to ushering life into the world finds herself charged with responsibility in a patient's tragic death.

    The time is 1981, and Sibyl Danforth has been a dedicated midwife in the rural community of Reddington, Vermont, for fifteen years. But one treacherous winter night, in a house isolated by icy roads and failed telephone lines, Sibyl takes desperate measures to save a baby's life. She performs an emergency Caesarean section on its mother, who appears to have died in labor. But what if--as Sibyl's assistant later charges--the patient wasn't already dead, and it was Sibyl who inadvertently killed her?

    As recounted by Sibyl's precocious fourteen-year-old daughter, Connie, the ensuing trial bears the earmarks of a witch hunt except for the fact that all its participants are acting from the highest motives--and the defendant increasingly appears to be guilty. As Sibyl Danforth 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.


    From the Trade Paperback edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJul 3, 2007
    ISBN9780739343012
    Unavailable
    Midwives: A Novel
    Author

    Chris Bohjalian

    Chris Bohjalian is the author of twelve novels, including the New York Times bestsellers, Secrets of Eden, The Double Bind, Skeletons at the Feast, and Midwives.  His work has been translated into twenty-six languages.  He lives in Vermont with his wife and daughter.   Visit him at www.chrisbohjalian.com or www.facebook.com .

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    Reviews for Midwives

    4/5

    1,714 ratings68 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Told from the viewpoint of 14-year old daughter of Sybil Danforth, an experienced midwife in rural Vermont who performed a cesarean on a woman who had struggled with a long labor. Sybil was in her mind sure that Charlotte was dead so she wanted to save the baby. However, after the birth, a young assistant reported that Charlotte was indeed alive when Sybil made the cut.The story begins with the birth and goes through the trial. Lots of birth details and legal maneuvering.
    • 5/5
      Beautiful storytelling.....
    • 5/5
      This was very captivating! I had a patron from the library recommend this and another book by this author, so when I saw them on sale at my favorite local bookstore, I snatched them up! This story was so intense, since I used a midwife for the births (and prenatal care) of all three of my children! After my first was born via C-Section, I went back to my midwife, hoping to have a V-BAC (Vaginal Birth Caesarean After)--but she came via C-Section as well. I was aware that I would have to have a C-Section for my third child, but I was still able to go with my beloved midwife for prenatal care. I felt like she really got to know me and treated me like someone she loved. I don't know what prenatal care by an OBGYN is like, but I really felt like going to a midwife was the best choice for me.
      Reading this story filled me with anxiety and heartbreak for the midwife and her family. I can't imagine the stress and doubt and pain they all went through....
    • 4/5
      Some of the passages were so well written it was impossible to tell that it was a man trying to write from the point of view of a woman.

      An informative, suspenseful and propelling story, very well told, regarding a controversial topic.

    • 4/5
      On a stormy Vermont night, a young woman is in labor with her second child when things start going horribly wrong, and the midwife present at this birth is later put on trial as a result. The story is told through the eyes of the midwife's teenage daughter, albeit from the distance of many years later.Having read a few other of Bohjalian's works in the past, I was hoping to like this book but I was impressed by how much I did. Even though the story is not told in a suspenseful thriller style, I found it difficult to put down and was constantly wanting to know what was coming next. I appreciated how the legal story was told against the backdrop of the teenage daughter's daily life of going to school, hanging out with friends, having a first boyfriend, etc. The complex relationship between the mother and daughter was also significant and interesting. The language was straightforward but evocative so that you felt like you were there in the thick of it. Like with most of Bohjalian's novels, there was a twist at the end, but it wasn't as extreme as some of the others he's done and seemed to fit in well with the story being told.
    • 5/5
      As "Washington Post Book World wrote- Astonishing... will keep readers up late at night until the last page is turned" !!!! Believe it.... Excellent, emotional rollercoaster, page turner, descriptions only a person who experienced the birthing process could explain in such detail. A must read!
    • 4/5
      Thought-provoking.
    • 4/5
      Sibyl Danforth is a committed midwife in the rural community of Reddington, Vermont. During a severe winter storm, one of her clients dies during a home delivery. Having no formal medical training, she soon finds herself embroiled in a trial which could be characterized as a witch hunt. Her story is told from the perspective of Connie Danforth, Sibyl's 14-year-old daughter who would do anything to save her mother and her family. Chris Bohjalian is one of my favorite writers who is skilled in whichever of the many genres he authors.
    • 5/5
      compelling
    • 4/5
      This is the story of Sybil Danforth, a midwife who is prosecuted for the death of one of her patients. However, the book is about Connie, Sybil's daughter, who is telling the story. I love books where clever literary devices are successful. Interesting story. Great book.
    • 4/5
      This was a very compelling story. I felt like I was watching a train wreck, and just couldn't turn away. I was all set to give it a solid three stars, but by the time I finished, I had to reevaluate and give it four.
    • 3/5
      An interesting read, not impossible to put down. First time I have come across fiction on this subject, definately a plausible story line. Highlights the narrow mindedness of the medical profession.
    • 5/5
      I love everything I've read from Bohjalian, and Midwives lives up to my expectation.

      The story centers around Sybil, a midwife who has lost a mother during a home birth gone wrong. The story is told primarily from the point of view of her teenaged daughter Connie.

      Following the death of the lost mother, there is an autopsy and Sybil is arrested and tried. Most of the book follows the trial.

      The thing I love about all of Bohjalian's books are the ambiguous moral dilemmas that leave me asking "what would I do?" and "what side would I have taken?" and "how would I have acted?"

      Definitely a thought-provoking book!
    • 4/5
      Could probably use a re-read on this, but I remember it as very compelling and a total surprise twist at the end. Led me to read other books by Bohjalian too.
    • 3/5
      This book kept my interest most of the time, and I learned some medical information. There were many tangents that did not add to the story, and the condemnation of the medical profession as a whole was very harsh.
    • 3/5
      Sibyl Danforth is a midwife. She is very good at her profession. One stormy night, she is attending to the birth of Charlotte Bedford. Charlotte's husband, Pastor Asa Bedford and Sibyl's apprentice, Anne, are in attendance. Things start going wrong and Sibyl has always had a history of getting someone to a hospital if things turn that way. Unfortunately, the weather prevents her from getting Charlotte to a hospital. Sibyl performs a surgery that she has never done before and her life then becomes a complete mess.We are taken through all of the turmoil that Sibyl and her family experience after this happens. Her daughter takes us through the trial and after.This was well-written and had you wondering throughout the story about what was actually the case.
    • 4/5
      4.5 starsSybil is a midwife and Connie's mom. The story is told from Connie's viewpoint. Connie is 14 years old when it happens. Sybil is helping a mom, Charlotte, in labour, but there is trouble, and Charlotte dies. Hoping to still save the baby, Sybil performs an emergency C-section on Charlotte. Unfortunately, there is now doubt as to whether or not Charlotte was actually dead before the C-section, or if that may have been what killed her. Sybil is charged, and brought to trial. I have to admit this book surprised me. I had no idea I would like it nearly as much as I did. I don't want kids, so the first couple of chapters may have been a bit too much info for me, with the detail about women giving birth, but once the story really got going... once the night of Charlotte's labour and death arrives, then the subsequent investigation and trial happens, wow! I just did not want to put the book down. If I wasn't reading the book, I wanted to be. The tension and suspense as to what would happen, who would say what, especially at the trial, was huge. Of course, being told from Connie's viewpoint, you see how this affects the entire family. But, it was really the tension and suspense in the book that really drew me in and wouldn't let go. This will most likely be on my favourites list for the year.
    • 4/5
      Very good story of ethical decision. Can't say much without giving story away. It is easy to read and worth it. Medical sociology--establishment against women. Taking normal process and making it an illness.
    • 3/5
      This contemporary story of a home-birth gone very wrong is compelling. The characters are richly drawn and much detail is given. Maybe a little too much detail. Around page 235ish, I started skimming much of it. I would have it enjoyed it so much more if it had been about 100 pages shorter.
    • 4/5
      Sybil is a midwife who is accused of killing, maybe murdering, one of "her mothers," that is, one of her patients, while she was in labor.The first part of this book tells us what happened before, during, and immediately after the young woman, Charlotte, died. Although this part is interesting and the reader really does need to know what occurred, it is slow going at times. That is because Chris Bohjalian tends to go on for too long about things that have little or nothing to do with the story. But this part does paint a necessary picture.Then the story--Sybil's surprise at the accusation, the subsequent preparation for trial, and the way her family dealt with all of it--really gets going. I hated to put the book down.I avoided reading this book because the narrator is Sybil's daughter, who was 13 and 14 years old during this ordeal. Books narrated by children do not appeal to me. In this case, though, the narrator is in her 30s, remembering events that happened when she was 13 and 14. So it feels like an adult book should and not like a book for young adults.Having read four Bohjalian novels, I observe that he always surprises in the end. I wonder if I should have seen it coming.
    • 4/5
      After reading Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands, I wanted to go back and red some of Chris Bohjalian's earlier works. His writing has improved since his earlier books but Midwives is still a very compelling novel and is written in a teenage girl's voice much like his new book. I though that Midwives was a fantastic novel and I was unable to put it down once I started it. I thought that the main character, Connie, was very believable even though her parents were a little hard to believe. Overall it was a great read.
    • 4/5
      On a cold night, in icy Vermont, a well-loved, trusted, experienced midwife watches her client fight for life. Due to sudden hazardous conditions, outside of anyone’s control, efforts to transport the laboring mother to the emergency room are of no use. Despite every last safety precaution taken, the woman still collapses into a lifeless slump while midwife, apprentice and father-to-be watch helplessly.Solemn quiet envelopes the group as they make their peace but another life waits to emerge. With the only choice she has left, Sibyl Danforth, our midwife and heroine makes, what she assumes is a post-mortem, uterine incision and lifts the baby to the world.Only one life, instead of two, is lost.After the events of the evening, though, conspiracy and suspicion begin to creep into the lives of all of those involved. With the sensationalism of the media, viciousness of modern litigation and ring of vengeance from grieving family, the happenings of the night are twisted and turned until they are no longer recounting survival but, rather, a much darker turn of events.Sibyl holds that her client was undeniably passed before she performed surgery. Her intern and the husband of the deceased would like to tell you a different story.This chilling tale is told, primarily, from the voice of Connie, Sibyl’s fourteen-year old daughter. Her voice is young and clear with a bit of a jaded edge as a result of the impending trial. Within the voice of innocence and youth, however, is another voice, woven in. At the beginning of each chapter, is a page or two from the journals Sibyl keeps of her clients. This voice begins as a benign, medical presence but soon moves to an emotional, spiritual and somewhat frantic side-car component to the story.To those who may caution against reading the book based on its portrayal of midwives (or doctors or lawyers or even fourteen year old girls), it’s fair to say that Bohjalian takes aim at all characterizations equally. I wouldn’t use the book to base a true assessment of home birthing on but I also wouldn’t attempt to use it as an LSAT study guide, either. The story uses professions and profiles as chess pawns to illustrate a much larger conflict that a simple happening, one night in the woods. More than the dispute (that I’m well versed in) between Doctors and Midwives and the gray middle of Nurse-Midwives, the book serves to illustrate the way we handle tragedy, emergency and fear when presented in whatever context.This was my first book by Bohjalian. I’ve always tossed him into the chick-lit, pulp fiction pile and while this may be an anomaly, I’d be willing to try another title by Chris if I one strikes me the right way. If anyone comes across a good one to suggest, I’m open to recommendations.
    • 4/5
      The “Swiss Cheese Model” of system failure states that every step in a process has the potential for failure, to varying degrees. The ideal system is analogous to a stack of slices of Swiss cheese. Consider the holes to be opportunities for a process to fail, and each of the slices as “defensive layers” in the process. An error may allow a problem to pass through a hole in one layer, but in the next layer the holes are in different places, and the problem should be caught. Each layer is a defence against potential error impacting the outcome. For a catastrophic error to occur, the holes need to align in each step of the process allowing all defences to be defeated and resulting in an error. Each slice of cheese is an opportunity to stop an error. The more defences you put up, the fewer the holes and the smaller the holes, the more likely you are to catch/stop errors that may occur.In 'Midwives', the layers were lined up with all the 'holes' in a row and Sybil Danforth, a lay midwife in rural Vermont in the early '80's finds herself on trial for manslaughter.This book refers to Sybil's personal diaries at the beginning of each chapter, but the story is told by her 14 year old daughter, Connie who provides her perspective on the trial, her mother's midwifery practice and the complex family relationships that are tested during a time of high stress. I first read this book almost twenty years ago and I remembering liking it. When I came across it again recently, I decided to give it another read and had forgotten how much I had liked it. This one will stay on my bookshelf.
    • 2/5
      The novel tells the story of Sibyl Danforth, a midwife put on trial for the death of one of her clients. On an icy winter night in an isolated house in rural Vermont. Sibyl 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. However, what if Sibyl's patient wasn't dead--and Sibyl inadvertently killed her? As recounted by Sibyl's 14 year-old daughter, Connie, the ensuing trial is supposed to be about the death of a single woman but turns into a battle between science and nature as the right of a woman to choose home birth is debated. The biggest issue that I had with this book was that I never really cared about any of the characters, particularly Sibyl. I found her to be a little too “Earth Mother,” and her descriptions of pregnancy and birth were too ethereal for me. I had no real emotional attachment to any of the characters. The story had a good start, but it began meandering and never recovered. It wasn't awful, but I would have a hard time recommending it to others. 2 out of 5 stars.
    • 4/5
      Bohjalian does an excellent job taking us through the various decisions and viewpoints of one critical night, when a talented midwife saves a baby by performing an emergency Caesarean section after a mother dies in childbirth. BUT, was the mother dead? The story is told by the midwife’s daughter, and focuses on what happens afterwards. This was a great discussion book for our book club.
    • 4/5
      DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!

      I have no idea how Chris Bohjalian wrote the voice of a 14-year-old girl so well that it actually made me remember what it felt like to be 14. AND against my will, mind you. I would do anything to never feel 14 again. There are many other wonderful things about this book. But it's enough to say read it because here is a man writing in the perfect 14-year-old-girl voice and that's some amazing motherfucking writing.
    • 3/5
      Like a bad, overly long episode of Law and Order. But I can't criticize it too harshly, because despite not really liking it, I was engaged enough to want to know the court case's verdict. Avoid if you don't like courtroom dramas.
    • 4/5
      Too much court room action.I enjoyed the central precept of this book - what if a midwife were to perform a ceasarian on a mother, thinking her dead at the time, but then discover that there may be some doubt about this fact? What I did not enjoy was the fact that most of the action seemed to take place in the court room, turning the book into more of a who-done-it.It is 1981 and Sybil, an experienced midwife, finds herslf having to make a quick decision to save the life of an unborn infant. Her instincts tell her that the mother should be transferred immediately to hospital, but a storm has set in and the freezing rain makes it impossible to travel. At the same time, the phone lines are down and she must deal with the situation with just the help of her inexperienced trainee assistant, Anne.After the event, Anne claims that she saw evidence that the mother was still alive at the time of the incision and as a result, Sybil and her family are thrust into an horrendous court case to defend her from a charge of manslaughter.Bohajalian has created some great characters, particulary Sibyl Danforth, the midwife, and her fourteen year old daughter, who narrates the story as a midwife, several years later.The narrative was set at about the time that pressure became greater on mothers to give birth in hospital, with doctors in attendance for emergencies, and events such as this added to the arguments against home births.I listened to the abridged audiobook, perhaps the full length version was less court based, but for the copy I had, only three and a half stars.
    • 5/5
      This has got to be one of my top ten reads of 2011. A really well written account of a family going through a traumatic court case, an examination of differing attitudes to childbirth, and a suspenseful plot that kept me reading well into the night. The author foreshadows constantly, but at no point is the reader completely sure what is going to happen, and there are some twists along the way. The penultimate chapter was the perfect ending for me, written with simplicity that was enormously moving. Comparisons on the back cover with ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ are spot on. Both feature legal proceedings seen through the eyes of a young girl, in both cases the setting is important to the plot and beautifully conveyed, and in both cases when reading the book one is conscious of holding a work of considerable quality.I would not have imagined a male author could have written a book about childbirth, an area which in literature as in life might be considered the exclusive preserve of women. Definitely hoping to read more of his work
    • 4/5
      One nightmarish night in New England, during a hellish ice storm, a midwife is forced to perform an emergency Caesarean on a young woman, who had suddenly died. But what if the woman wasn’t dead and the midwife had inadvertently murdered her? That becomes the frightening question and the main plot point in this engaging story, all told through the eyes of the midwife’s fourteen year old daughter.In a less capable author, this could be a melodramatic mess but Bohjalian handles it with a simple and clear approach. Recommended.