I got oh, maybe 50 pages into it and couldn't really go on. It might just sit around on my selfs waiting for me to try reading it again. Or maybe I'll let it go, we'll see what happens.

Synopsis:
The trial of a midwife in 1980s Vermont. Sybil Danforth, with several hundred deliveries to her name, claims the mother was dead when she opened her to save the baby. The prosecution claims the mother was alive and the operation was illegal. The story is narrated by Sybil's daughter, portraying the trial as another round in the persecution of midwives by the New England medical profession. -- Synopsis copyright Fiction Digest

This book will hopefully become a book ring in the next few weeks as I have no time to read it and need a break from it.

This book has becomea book ring!
The book is on it's way to the members listed below, but you're welcome to join on too!
Member in Bold has the book.

AnitaNovel-Illinois
wontyoubefair-New York
Sherria-Conneticut
kernow8-Virgina
loopy1-UK
Theresa-A -UK

and then back to me Certainlily in Michigan

Released on Monday, July 28, 2003 at Williamston Post Office in Williamston, Michigan USA.

Sent to the first person on the book ring list :)

I received this book last week (immediately PMed Certainlily as per her note in the book) and have been absolutely pulled into the world contained in the pages. I am about 2 hours away from finishing and will do a detailed log entry then. Since I read so quickly I was going to do my "I received the book" and "here is what I thought of it" entry all at once--but the power outtage had me concerned so I am making this post now. I did PM the next person on the list who happens to be in New York. The past week must have been hellish (temperature, frustration, commute) for the powerless New Yorkers so I am not surprised to not have heard back from BXer wontyoubefair on the address to which she would welcome this book as I imagine just getting daily needs met has left very little time for BXing. Just wanted to pass on a status of where this wonderful book is right now to everyone down the line.

The point of view taken in the novel is the retrospective experience of the daughter of the midwife on trial--and I loved it. Hopping back and forth from the perspective of a loving and bright 14 year old daughter and the same girl as an adult professional was facinating. Such sympathetic treatment of all parties--suspenseful outcome and tense trial moments depicted in such a emotionally literate manner that it actually affected my dreams (I really did dream that I was on trial two nights in a row). What a fabulous book and very big thanks to certainlily for sharing it with me. I have contacted wontyoubefair and will be sending the book on Monday, August 25, 2003.

On August 25, 2003 this book was mailed to BXer wontyoubefair.

Just received the book in the mail from Anitanovel and I am planning on getting started on it right away.

I liked the way this book was written. A woman remembered her mother's trial and the all the days leading up to it - but it was written from the point of view of a young girl - with comments from her adult self mixed in. The journal entries written by the mother at the start of the chapter helped understand what was going in Sibyl's mind, since the daughter - during the trial - only knew what she overheard. It took me a while to get started and get into it...but once I reached the fifth chapter, I couldn't put it down.

This arrived today (TtG for mail forwarding, since I moved!). There are a couple of other rings/rays ahead of it, but I'm looking forward to reading it soon. I'll journal my thoughts after I've finished the book. Thanks for sharing it!

Starting this book this weekend. Sorry for the delay in getting to it. I'll journal again when i've finished it. Looking forward to meeting the characters in this one!

Wow, what an amazing book. I really loved this one. The story, told from the perspective of the teenage daughter, grabbed me from the first pages and didn't let go until it was done. The characters were very real, and I easily got involved in their story.

Thank you so much for sharing this book certainlily! I'd likely never have read it otherwise, and I'm sure glad I had the opportunity to enjoy it! Sending it to kernow8 this week.

It has arrived - in the mail today. Half hanging out of the envelope - but in pretty good condition considering!! I've slotted it into my rough reading plan - looks as though I'll be able to read and pass on within 3 weeks or so (hopefully this side of Christmas).

Thanks all!

Update 12/24 Christmas Eve - I have started reading!

This was an excellent story - it had me gripped throughout. And it was very challenging - I really sympathised with the character of Sibyl, so I wanted to be on her side, but certain points that the State prosecutor made during the trial made me less sure as the book went on.

This reminded me of my childbirth experiences (not too surprisingly!). None of the mums I knew in England had or considered home births, except one for whom it all happened too quickly and she would never have made it out of the door let alone to hospital (she had a home delivery with her own mother and husband delivering the baby while being guided on the phone by a midwife - much like one of the births described in this book). However we did have a midwife-run local maternity unit linked to the tiny hospital in the village, which didn't even have any resident doctors, let alone any drugs stronger than laughing gas! Many of my friends had their children there but I and my husband (perhaps due to being chemical engineers and too used to analysing risk and relying on technology in our professional lives) were ultimately too scared of the what-ifs and the 20+ minute ambulance ride to the city hospital in the event of an emergency, so we opted for the city hospital from the start. I think sub-consciously I would like to have been brave enough to go for the less clinical, more homely environment of the local midwife-run unit, so that's why I sympathised with Sibyl rather than the anti-homebirthers.

I thought the characters were well and subtly developed. I was particularly impressed that the author managed to hint at a developing attraction between the lawyer and the midwife without letting it take over the story. It just came across as though the lawyer, embodying as he did the family's hope for their future, provoked different feelings from each member of the family according to whether they saw him as a threat or as a potential saviour.

Lastly, I loved the setting. I drove through Vermont this summer and a lot of the places seemed familiar - particularly the location of the lawyer's offices in Burlington, which we drove through on our way to the Lake Champlain ferry. The combination of reading and travel is a great one, isn't it?

Off to loopy1 in England next time I can get to the post office (pchemphd has acquired a copy elsewhere, and Theresa-A has a warning on her profile page requesting to be skipped or moved to the end of a bookring's journey).

Thanks everyone who has contributed to this book's journey, and particularly to certainlily for sharing it in the first place.

Update December 30th - mailed today.

The book arrived safely this morning, thanks.
Looking forward to it - and the TBR pile has shrunk mysteriously over the last week or so :-)

Many apologies for taking so long - the book got sidetracked to MIL for a couple of days, but once I got it back I read it very quickly.
I myself was born at home - I point the window out to my children every time we walk past the house - but my three children were born in hospital. I never really gave any consideration to birth at home - as the book says, most of the time things are fine, but if they do go wrong they really crash!
I was drawn into the book from the start. I was interested to see the comment "The next Map of the World" in the front, since I was reminded of that book too.
It was very well told, and reminded me of a 14 yr old's lack of concentration, or maybe just avoiding the subject - the way you would get right into the story and then a new chapter would begin and you would step away from the storyline again.
The journal entries from the mother were used very skilfully, and from the prologue to the very end of the book I was never sure of the outcome.
Thanks for sharing this, and I will get it on its way again as soon as I can :-)

Just recived this book in the mail from Loopy1, thanks for sending it back. Glad to see it made it all the way though the ring. I gave the book to my friend so she could read it because I knew I wouldn't get the chance to read it yet.