Reviews

Three generations of midwives play the central characters in this novel. Floss, the elderly and former midwife, her middle-aged daughter Grace, and her granddaughter Neva all work as midwives although Floss retired some time ago. They each harbor secrets they find difficult to divulge to their relatives, but they eventually surface throughout the course of the book.

While I liked the story and found the processes of midwifery interesting, I found some of the characterizations a little too surface and some of the stories lacking depth. Grace's story seems a little bland until you really dive deeper into the novel. I found Floss's story sad but ultimately redeeming, but I felt that it could have been more fully formed. For Neva, I think I liked her character best, but some issues in her life were wrapped up too neatly.

All in all, this is not my favorite book of Hepworth's, but I think it's a good debut. Her newer novels really capture deeper characterizations and even more multifaceted stories with plenty of surprises.

mselvis's review against another edition

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emotional informative tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

therealbel's review against another edition

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3.0

An easy read, The Secrets of Midwives is half excellent novel half "airplane read". A story centered around three generations of the same family each of whom was a midwife, I enjoyed the characters (in particular, Floss, the grandmother) and the plot twists, but found a lot of the plot pretty predictable. An easy read, great for traveling or when you don't want to have to put much effort into reading a story. Overall, enjoyable.

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