A review by slnrreads
The Midwife of Hope River by Patricia Harman

5.0

Although simply written, I thoroughly enjoyed the journey this book took me on and am sad to have just finished it. I was pleased to learn the author had 30+ years as a midwife, which validated many of the incidents in the book for me (albeit after the fact). I loved the portrayal of a Depression-era rural community which wove together people, both fictional and actual events, medicine, and politics. It wasn't entirely predictable in that many of the relationships were complex and ultimately this was a story about choices, trust, life and death, community, friendship, politics (race relations), that which we can and can't control, and learning to make the most of things. The author did a wonderful job creating characters and a community that I cared about, while portraying a strong themes of the cycle of life (birth and death) and how each of us deals with struggle (since we all have our share of them). The glimpse into the lives of so many members of the community painted a vivid picture of a midwife's life in a difficult time in our history and was essential in giving the reader a larger picture of the community and their dependence on each other for survival. Many of Patience's observations about relationships resonated with me and I think I will have this book in my head for quite some time.