WWW Wednesday – January 15

WWW Wednesday is hosted by Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading

Someone recently recommended In the Blink of an Eye by Jo Callaghan (2023), which I am enjoying. The main character, Detective Kat Frank, is a single mother asked to lead a pilot program using a sort of robot with artificial intelligence. 

Midwives by Chris Bohjalian

Title: Midwives
Author: Chris Bohjalian
Publication: Vintage, paperback, originally published in 1997
Genre: Fiction
Setting: 20th century United States

Description: Sybil Danforth is an experienced midwife in rural Vermont but even she is tested on a stormy winter night when a minister’s wife goes into labor and has a complicated delivery.

Once a Midwife (Book Review)

Title: Once a Midwife, a Hope River Novel
Author: Patricia Harman
Publication: William Morrow, trade paperback, 2018
Genre: Historical Fiction

Plot: Welcome to Hope River, West Virginia as midwife Patience Hester, along with her family and friends, face the challenges of the home front during World War II, in Patricia Harman's latest novel.

Call the Midwife: suggested reading list for fans

For those who enjoyed the PBS series* (and if you missed it, here is an article from Time Magazine to change your mind) and are eager to read more about midwives:

Nonfiction

Call the Midwife: a True Story of the East End in the 1950s – Jennifer Worth
This is the first of a trilogy about the author’s work in post-WWII London as a midwife, and inspired the PBS series. Like the characters in the series, Worth left a comfortable home to live in a convent and minister to London’s slums.

Midwife’s Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary, 1785-1812 – Laurel Ulrich
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for History, this fascinating book is based on the diaries of a midwife and healer in 18th century Maine.

Fiction

The Midwife - Gay Courter

An old NAL bestseller: Hannah Blau and her family emigrate from Russia (where she received her medical training) to the Lower East Side of New York where she faces a harsher world than that of All of a Kind Family.