How did I end up reading two books about midwives in the same month? Better not to speculate…
The first of these books was not worth the time it took to read it. Eakes is described (by Wikipedia) as a “romance author”. She does not do well by the genre. Her characters are relatively one dimensional. She’s got some kind of Christian/family values “agenda” going on which I found annoying.
The Secrets of Midwives was better. There are two main themes:
- The joy and wonder of birth
- The power of secrets, both to protect and to injure
Carrying these threads through three generations, Hepworth writes a gripping tale. Some of the romance was a bit trite, but overall this was a good read.
AMG Reading Journal 