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The Midwife's Tale
“I come from a long line of midwives,” narrates Elizabeth Whitely. “I was expected to follow Mama, follow Granny, follow Great-granny. In the end, I didn’t disappoint them.
Or perhaps I did. After all, there were no more midwives after me.”For generations, the women in Elizabeth’s family have brought life to Kettle Valley, West Virginia, heeding a destiny to tend its women with herbals, experience, and wisdom. But Elizabeth, who has comforted so many, has lost her heart to the one man who cannot reciprocate, even when she moves into his home to share his bed and raise his child.
Then Lauren Denniker, Elizabeth’s adopted daughter, begins to display a miraculous gift--just as Elizabeth learns that she herself is unable to have a child. How Elizabeth comes to free herself from a loveless relationship, grapple with Lauren’s astonishing abilities, and come to terms with her own emptiness is the compelling heart of this remarkable tale. Incorporating the spirited mountain mythology of prewar Appalachia, Gretchen Laskas has crafted a story as true to our time as its own, and a cast of characters as poignant as they are entirely original.
Or perhaps I did. After all, there were no more midwives after me.”For generations, the women in Elizabeth’s family have brought life to Kettle Valley, West Virginia, heeding a destiny to tend its women with herbals, experience, and wisdom. But Elizabeth, who has comforted so many, has lost her heart to the one man who cannot reciprocate, even when she moves into his home to share his bed and raise his child.
Then Lauren Denniker, Elizabeth’s adopted daughter, begins to display a miraculous gift--just as Elizabeth learns that she herself is unable to have a child. How Elizabeth comes to free herself from a loveless relationship, grapple with Lauren’s astonishing abilities, and come to terms with her own emptiness is the compelling heart of this remarkable tale. Incorporating the spirited mountain mythology of prewar Appalachia, Gretchen Laskas has crafted a story as true to our time as its own, and a cast of characters as poignant as they are entirely original.
256 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2003
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953 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 129 reviews
July 19, 2009
This is a beautifully written book that I loved reading. The author weaves this story with such depth and insight into a woman's heart and mind. It contains all the ingredients for a great story including, birth, death, love, loss and heartache, all in a remote place where everyday living is hard.
Elizabeth became a midwife without any thought or decision. Her mother was a midwife, her grandmother was a midwife and her great grandmother and so on. Only Elizabeth was too gentle a person to be able to cope with the painful realities of that life. By reading Elizabeth's story you get a unique view of life in the first half of the 1900's, what child birth was like, having deformed or sickly babies or just another mouth that you couldn't feed. This is a moving and honest account.
This book is so much more than a midwife's tale, in fact that is a very small part of the plot. It's the story of Elizabeth's life and how much of a struggle it was for her to find true happiness. It is the story of the complexities of the mother/daughter relationship and the devoted love that it contains. The story is set in the hills of west Virginia and is the perfect backdrop for this beautiful tale.
Elizabeth became a midwife without any thought or decision. Her mother was a midwife, her grandmother was a midwife and her great grandmother and so on. Only Elizabeth was too gentle a person to be able to cope with the painful realities of that life. By reading Elizabeth's story you get a unique view of life in the first half of the 1900's, what child birth was like, having deformed or sickly babies or just another mouth that you couldn't feed. This is a moving and honest account.
This book is so much more than a midwife's tale, in fact that is a very small part of the plot. It's the story of Elizabeth's life and how much of a struggle it was for her to find true happiness. It is the story of the complexities of the mother/daughter relationship and the devoted love that it contains. The story is set in the hills of west Virginia and is the perfect backdrop for this beautiful tale.
September 1, 2009
I gave this my requisite "50 pages before you quit" but had to jump ship since the narrator (as a teen, at least) was so infuriating with the whining, naivete, and obsession about a guy that seemingly didn't have ANY feelings for her.
I'm disappointed since I was really looking forward to a combination of a midwife's story with historical fiction in the Appalachian mountains, but couldn't get past the snotty protagonist. God bless her long-suffering mother, who was interesting, but alas. No go.
**heads up to AVOID spoilers**
the back of the book REALLY spoils the plot. It doesn't seem to reach that point in the story until about 120 pages! What the eff?
I'm disappointed since I was really looking forward to a combination of a midwife's story with historical fiction in the Appalachian mountains, but couldn't get past the snotty protagonist. God bless her long-suffering mother, who was interesting, but alas. No go.
**heads up to AVOID spoilers**
the back of the book REALLY spoils the plot. It doesn't seem to reach that point in the story until about 120 pages! What the eff?
December 29, 2013
A wonderful well written story told by one of the last midwife's in Kettle Valley West Virginia. The year was 1918.Reading this story I felt like I could be reading about my own Grandmother. She was a midwife in south eastern Kentucky around the same time. Rusha also kept journals. Blue ones I never saw any red journals...thankfully. I had heard so many of the stories Laskas tells in this book. Stories of love,hard living and undying loyalties and a miracle or two....
August 4, 2017
It was beautifully written and the author is a wonderful storyteller. It had a personal connection for me as my grandmother was born around the same time as the main character and both lived in rural settings. It was interesting to learn what life was like during that time through the eyes of a woman.
October 18, 2010
In the early 1900s, a young girl lived with her mother at the base of Denniker's mountain in rural West Virginia. Her name was Elizabeth Whitely, and her mother was a midwife. Even before she reached her own childbearing age, Elizabeth became her mother's assistant, and finally a midwife in her own right, following in the footsteps of not just her mother, but her grandmother and great-grandmother. Elizabeth was also a bastard, never knowing her father. And she was in love, with Alvin Denniker, for whose family the mountain was named. But Alvin came home from a trip across the country with a Cuban bride, Ivy, crushing Elizabeth's hopes. Despite this, Elizabeth and Ivy became close, and Elizabeth helped her deliver her daughter, Lauren. When tragedy strikes Ivy and Alvin's family, Elizabeth steps in, raising Lauren as her own. But when Lauren demonstrates a "gift" that could turn her into a tent-revival freak show, Elizabeth has to make the difficult decision to send her away, losing not only the daughter she has come to love, but the man as well.
Laskas has given us in The Midwife's Tale a story about the deep connection between mothers and daughters. Rather than being sentimental, the relationships between mothers and daughter in this book are fraught with anger, resentment, and rebellion. Elizabeth's mother rebelled by going with the man who gave her Elizabeth, and then again by moving herself and Elizabeth to their own house on the mountain-something unheard of for an unmarried women in the early 20th century. Elizabeth's rebellions are similar-her decision not to become a midwife after learning about her mother's part in smothering unwanted babies, leaving her home to live with a man to whom she is not married. But each woman, despite the anger and resentment they sometimes feel, are deeply connected by love, family, and tradition. Elizabeth as a mother herself is devoted, continuing to live in less-than-ideal conditions with a man who won't marry her for the sake of being with Lauren. Lauren really ends up being the catalyst for a lot of change in Elizabeth's life-where she lives, who her man is, what her job is, and ultimately her own pregnancy.
While I don't mind magical realism in a novel, in this one it felt superfluous. When Lauren begins curing people, about midway through the book, it caused a strange dissonance for me between the story I thought I was reading and the one that Laskas apparently meant to write. I suppose that using Lauren's gift as the reason that Lauren has to be sent away from the mountain was one way to go, but even that rational felt tenuous to me. Frankly, I think that the story of a strong young woman finding her own way in the world, despite the sexism of the time period, would have been stronger if there has not been this attempt to explain at least some of her decisions away on her adoptive daughter's faith healing.
Laskas has given us in The Midwife's Tale a story about the deep connection between mothers and daughters. Rather than being sentimental, the relationships between mothers and daughter in this book are fraught with anger, resentment, and rebellion. Elizabeth's mother rebelled by going with the man who gave her Elizabeth, and then again by moving herself and Elizabeth to their own house on the mountain-something unheard of for an unmarried women in the early 20th century. Elizabeth's rebellions are similar-her decision not to become a midwife after learning about her mother's part in smothering unwanted babies, leaving her home to live with a man to whom she is not married. But each woman, despite the anger and resentment they sometimes feel, are deeply connected by love, family, and tradition. Elizabeth as a mother herself is devoted, continuing to live in less-than-ideal conditions with a man who won't marry her for the sake of being with Lauren. Lauren really ends up being the catalyst for a lot of change in Elizabeth's life-where she lives, who her man is, what her job is, and ultimately her own pregnancy.
While I don't mind magical realism in a novel, in this one it felt superfluous. When Lauren begins curing people, about midway through the book, it caused a strange dissonance for me between the story I thought I was reading and the one that Laskas apparently meant to write. I suppose that using Lauren's gift as the reason that Lauren has to be sent away from the mountain was one way to go, but even that rational felt tenuous to me. Frankly, I think that the story of a strong young woman finding her own way in the world, despite the sexism of the time period, would have been stronger if there has not been this attempt to explain at least some of her decisions away on her adoptive daughter's faith healing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 1, 2012
Our local Friends of the library has frequent book sales, where I do my best to support an institution I love, both through volunteerism and patronage. At the last book sale, I found this novel tucked into the health/science section by someone who judged a book by its title, not its content. As I walked it toward the fiction section, I read the back blurb, then decided perhaps it should come home with me, instead.
In my younger days I spent much time in the West Virginia mountains. There, I got to know many folks whose family had settled the hills -- hardworking, forthright people, who cared for their families, land and mountains with a determination and strength bred through the generations. This book takes place in the early 1900's in those same hills of West Virginia. In the characters that populate the pages, I could see the ancestry of the mountain people who populated my youth.
The story itself is of Elizabeth Whitely, who was born into a long line of midwives, women who "caught babies" born to the other women of the mountains. While Elizabeth struggles with her destiny, she also struggles with her heart, for she has loved one man since childhood, and while he cares for her, he's given his heart to a woman "from off" (as we say here). Though Ivy and Elizabeth become friends, and Elizabeth becomes godmother to Ivy's daughter Lauren, she can't put aside her love for Ivy's husband. And when Ivy dies, and Elizabeth takes her place as woman of the house, it is with the knowledge that she'll never win the heart of Lauren's father. And then Elizabeth's world gets turned sideways when Lauren begins to display the gift of healing.
While this might sound like a depressing tale, it's one of those gently written novels that spins images with the words and sweeps the reader into another time. Interlaced with the unrequited love story is that of Elizabeth's relationship to her own mother, and her mother's story, also a compelling one. For me, what drove the novel was the sense of time and place, even more than the tale itself. Though the ending came a bit abruptly for me, it still rang true to the rest of the story.
All in all, when my own debut novel eventually makes an appearance, I hope it can carry the grace and dignity which this one does.
In my younger days I spent much time in the West Virginia mountains. There, I got to know many folks whose family had settled the hills -- hardworking, forthright people, who cared for their families, land and mountains with a determination and strength bred through the generations. This book takes place in the early 1900's in those same hills of West Virginia. In the characters that populate the pages, I could see the ancestry of the mountain people who populated my youth.
The story itself is of Elizabeth Whitely, who was born into a long line of midwives, women who "caught babies" born to the other women of the mountains. While Elizabeth struggles with her destiny, she also struggles with her heart, for she has loved one man since childhood, and while he cares for her, he's given his heart to a woman "from off" (as we say here). Though Ivy and Elizabeth become friends, and Elizabeth becomes godmother to Ivy's daughter Lauren, she can't put aside her love for Ivy's husband. And when Ivy dies, and Elizabeth takes her place as woman of the house, it is with the knowledge that she'll never win the heart of Lauren's father. And then Elizabeth's world gets turned sideways when Lauren begins to display the gift of healing.
While this might sound like a depressing tale, it's one of those gently written novels that spins images with the words and sweeps the reader into another time. Interlaced with the unrequited love story is that of Elizabeth's relationship to her own mother, and her mother's story, also a compelling one. For me, what drove the novel was the sense of time and place, even more than the tale itself. Though the ending came a bit abruptly for me, it still rang true to the rest of the story.
All in all, when my own debut novel eventually makes an appearance, I hope it can carry the grace and dignity which this one does.
June 24, 2009
I picked this up when last at the library because I am free to read what I want and because it was in the section I was browsing through. I didn't really have expectations about this book, so I am wondering why I feel dissappointed about the story.I thought that Mrs. Laskas did an excellent job of researching the subject matter and making you feel like you were peering through a window in time. Her portrayal of Elizabeths emotions was perfect. I was happy, sad, angry and bewildered right along with her for the most part. I was also dismayed by the amount of content that I found to be somewhat vulgar. I can see how it added to the story so I only have myself to blame for not putting it down and refusing to continue when I hit these parts. But I was compelled to finish because I could not for the life of me see where the story was going. She is an excellent writer. Her depth of emotions in the characters was excellent. I felt as though she had personnally experienced midwifing herself, they way she spoke of it. She has obviously done her homework. I was happy with the way the story ended, and I really was drawn to the characters, but they vulgarity of some of the content keeps it from being 4 stars for me.
July 29, 2009
This is the story of a long line of women- all who were raised to be midwives... women serving women during times where fair and just were not very clear. I guess even today we could say the same but as I read this book my heart went out to the individuals. Those in loveless marriages.... living in poverty.... living without the miracle of modern medicine. However, in the midst of all of that... there was humanity- woman to woman.
I found the mother of the main character to be very interesting. As she watched her daughter go down a path that most would have thought is the road less traveled... mother knew certain things all too well. She would add her 2 cents but let her daughter make her own decisions for better or for worse because that is how it was meant to be. Of course there was the typical mom/ daughter power stuggles however.... as the story unfolds so do the petals of the flower of new found insight.
It's hard to explain all of the details to this story because a great deal of it is about day to day living with a strong theme of mothers and daughters.
Read it for yorself and let me know what you think.
I found the mother of the main character to be very interesting. As she watched her daughter go down a path that most would have thought is the road less traveled... mother knew certain things all too well. She would add her 2 cents but let her daughter make her own decisions for better or for worse because that is how it was meant to be. Of course there was the typical mom/ daughter power stuggles however.... as the story unfolds so do the petals of the flower of new found insight.
It's hard to explain all of the details to this story because a great deal of it is about day to day living with a strong theme of mothers and daughters.
Read it for yorself and let me know what you think.
February 26, 2009
This is such a beautifully written novel, set in the early 1900s in rural West Virginia. This is my favorite kind of story, one that follows a family over a period of time, has lots of love and heartache, and a little bit of magic too.
Elizabeth comes from a long line of midwives and is trained alongside her mother to continue the family's work. Her first solo birth is an amazing experience but there are darker aspects to midwifery as well. At times Elizabeth questions certain methods and even turns her back on the profession for long periods of time.
In the end, though, this is really a love story. There is the love between Elizabeth and her mother and grandmother. Love with an older man she's known all her life. Love for her adopted daughter. And some unexpected loves along the way.
The writing in this book is very well done the characters are believable and likable. A great read!
Elizabeth comes from a long line of midwives and is trained alongside her mother to continue the family's work. Her first solo birth is an amazing experience but there are darker aspects to midwifery as well. At times Elizabeth questions certain methods and even turns her back on the profession for long periods of time.
In the end, though, this is really a love story. There is the love between Elizabeth and her mother and grandmother. Love with an older man she's known all her life. Love for her adopted daughter. And some unexpected loves along the way.
The writing in this book is very well done the characters are believable and likable. A great read!
October 10, 2007
Wonderful West Virginia story about midwives and midwifery, a backbone of the agricultural lifestyle, with heady dashes of storytelling thrown in. The people don't speak with a mimed accent, the hillfolk are neither pastoral nor crude, and the action often revolves around family histories that influence the decisions of the characters. Elizabeth is a very interesting narrator with a strong voice. Recommended for anyone who likes quality Appalachian fiction.
November 26, 2011
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was fascinated by the descriptions of life as a midwife and intrigued by the heroine's adopted daughter's abilities as a healer. The flaws in the heroine's character -- (there were times when I wanted to grab her and shake her and scream, "what the hell do you think you're doing?") -- were what made her human. This is definitely not a book that a man would enjoy, and possibly not a very young woman, but I personally couldn't lay it down.
February 1, 2014
Loved this book, what a great story teller ms Laskas. As she tells the story, all the characters become real, and you get a birds eye view of Mountain women in the 20's & 30's. This book covered all my emotions from anger to tears of joy and out loud laughter. The story is told by the midwife, Elizabeth, a 4th generation midwife in West Virigna. I am usually a mystery kind of reader, but this was a great change of pace book.
August 1, 2008
I'd have rather given 4.5 stars. Surprisingly good Appalachian fiction that did not get into any of the politics of midwifery, but focused on the tales of relationships instead. The author obviously is attuned to the nuances of different types of relationships; her characters stick with you.
October 14, 2024
This was very boring. The title and the description and the actual content of the book are nothing like one another. Yes, there's a midwife. There are two actually. And there's a tale. Or four. Or more. But the story lacks cohesion. Every time Laskas seemed to be writing something that pointed in any given direction, something came along to start a new story. None of the starts were ever fleshed out. It's a book full of plot stubs connected with high school creative writing paragraphs on history designed to place the reader in time, though it could have taken place at any time within the last 150 years and it wouldn't have made much of a difference-- traveling carnivals with freakshows notwithstanding. Don't waste your time.
November 7, 2022
I thought it was a book I had read before but it turns out it was another midwife story. I believe those in that occupation are special people and have amazing as well as said tales to tell. They learn a lot through on the job training through their mothers so their lessons are rich in botany, psychology and obstetrics. Many were not given the respect they deserved by the medical community but the patients trusted them. This story was also a personal story of the main characters hopes and dreams. I was pleasantly surprised at the ending. Sometimes in life, the universe simply sends us a surprise ending.
November 22, 2017
The first half of this book was interesting and intriguing. I loved the midwife stories. The unrequited love part wasn't as good but overall I loved the beautiful writing, the historical fiction and the perspective of this group of characters. The book lost steam in the second half, however. The last half of the book seemed very unrelated to the first half and it really just wasn't as good. For that reason I'm just going to give it an overall 3 stars.
January 29, 2025
4.5
Sometimes you can find a wonderful unexpected novel at a book sale. This is one of them.
Elizabeth is expected to follow in the footsteps of many generations of the women in her family as midwives. She's learned from helping her Mama. She is in love with one man who doesn't reciprocate the feelings. It's a beautiful and heartbreaking and redemptive historical fiction set in West Virginia in the 1930s.
Take a rainy afternoon and enjoy this gem in one or two sittings.
Sometimes you can find a wonderful unexpected novel at a book sale. This is one of them.
Elizabeth is expected to follow in the footsteps of many generations of the women in her family as midwives. She's learned from helping her Mama. She is in love with one man who doesn't reciprocate the feelings. It's a beautiful and heartbreaking and redemptive historical fiction set in West Virginia in the 1930s.
Take a rainy afternoon and enjoy this gem in one or two sittings.
September 24, 2017
I found myself loving this story, and I didn't have much expectations of it to begin with. While yes, I did find the main character a little hard to like sometimes, I enjoy unlikeable characters as they're often more true to life. The author takes the same approach to the role of a midwife during this time and in this place, and doesn't romanticize it. Worth a read.
June 18, 2018
If you're looking for a good midwifery fiction book, then please look into this one. Set in the mountains of Kettle Creek, West Virginia, Elizabeth Whitley tells her story of becoming a midwife in the late 1920s and early 1930s. From stillborn babies, influenza epidemic, unrequited love and even miracles, this book is full of information. My attention was held from the very first page.
September 14, 2020
I needed a break from my usual murder mystery fair and this was just perfect. Although I am sure the mountains of West Virginia are quite different from our Wyoming mountains, I appreciated the beauty of the place, could hear the brooks, smell the breeze, feel the cool fresh air. Though I did get a bit tired of whiny Elizabeth, all the characters were real, warts and all.
November 15, 2024
This one is a 5/5 for me. I am a total birth nerd, and this book had everything I like - birth, drama, secrets, love, heartbreak, suspense. I couldn't wait to pick it up again, the storyline had me hooked.
August 9, 2019
Disappointing oral history of a midwife’s daughter who loved a married man, became a midwife herself, lost it all, and finally found love.
October 16, 2020
This book crept up on me. Well researched and at times harrowing .It shows how much wise women were needed to help a woman in childbirth ( and are needed still ).
Read
April 25, 2022shows what life was like in prewar appalachia. Very interesting. Enjoyed it! Recommend.
August 29, 2022
Loved this 🧡
May 29, 2023
Really enjoyed this fast little read. It was very touching and moving. We've come so far.
March 10, 2024
I typically like books about midwives. This one, by far is the best one I’ve ever read. It doesn’t end the way most books about midwives do. I think you will be pleasantly surprised too.
February 3, 2025
a fascinating tale of a young woman whose mother, Grandmother and great grandmother were midwives. she becomes one as well in the 1920's. very good story line and a lovely ending.
July 1, 2010
4.5 stars
This book was highly recommended to me by a friend and I'm so glad I picked it up. The Midwife's Tale is a beautifully written debut novel. Poignant, raw and sometimes shocking, it portrays with honesty and emotion the realities of life in rural Virginia in the early 1900's. Narrated by Elizabeth, a midwife like her mother and grandmother before her, we experience heartache, love and hardships alongside this strong, compassionate character.
Descriptive birthings, timeworn herbal remedies, sage advice and complex relationships are woven together to create a very moving account. The author doesn't shy away from some of the grimmer aspects of midwifery, such as unwanted babies and newborn deaths, and while I'm sure it's time-true, be warned it does make for bleak reading.
Fear of a dry birth ate its way through my belly. My herbals were useless. I had given her blueberry root and hardhack. I'd forced bitter summer cohosh straight down her throat. Now there was nothing to do but wait. (page 34)
As much as I had once loved this man, I would have loved his baby more. That Alvin thought my love for him greater than my want for a child was strange knowledge, but like a spring tonic, I swallowed it and was made stronger. (page 145)
I loved sharing the wide spectrum of emotions that Elizabeth experiences in her relationships; with her mother, grandmother, her friend Ivy, and the men in her life. With much of her life shadowed in sorrow, it's truly heartwarming when Elizabeth eventually finds love and happiness.
As a lover of stories centred around midwifery or healing The Midwife's Tale certainly ticked all the boxes for me.
This book was highly recommended to me by a friend and I'm so glad I picked it up. The Midwife's Tale is a beautifully written debut novel. Poignant, raw and sometimes shocking, it portrays with honesty and emotion the realities of life in rural Virginia in the early 1900's. Narrated by Elizabeth, a midwife like her mother and grandmother before her, we experience heartache, love and hardships alongside this strong, compassionate character.
Descriptive birthings, timeworn herbal remedies, sage advice and complex relationships are woven together to create a very moving account. The author doesn't shy away from some of the grimmer aspects of midwifery, such as unwanted babies and newborn deaths, and while I'm sure it's time-true, be warned it does make for bleak reading.
Fear of a dry birth ate its way through my belly. My herbals were useless. I had given her blueberry root and hardhack. I'd forced bitter summer cohosh straight down her throat. Now there was nothing to do but wait. (page 34)
As much as I had once loved this man, I would have loved his baby more. That Alvin thought my love for him greater than my want for a child was strange knowledge, but like a spring tonic, I swallowed it and was made stronger. (page 145)
I loved sharing the wide spectrum of emotions that Elizabeth experiences in her relationships; with her mother, grandmother, her friend Ivy, and the men in her life. With much of her life shadowed in sorrow, it's truly heartwarming when Elizabeth eventually finds love and happiness.
As a lover of stories centred around midwifery or healing The Midwife's Tale certainly ticked all the boxes for me.
November 29, 2013
This is the story of a young woman in rural West Virginia of the early 20th century. Daughter of a midwife who is the daughter of a midwife, she herself catches babies until the pain of her own barrenness and the pain of what midwives do with unwanted babies is too much to bear and she just stops. She goes through the change at 32. She had left home as a young woman to live with a widower she has always desperately loved. She cares for hima nd raises his miracle daughter Lauren. He appreciates her but does not return the love, staying focused on his dead wife. When Lauren reveals the abilities of a healer, her father takes his daughter West so she won't become a freak attraction up on the mountain. Then our heroine is liberated and precipitously (one day courtship) marries a delightful carnival man who thinks the sun rises and sets with her.
It takes her many months, hard bitter months while her mother is dying, to take in his love and give birth to her own love. Yes, she regains her fertility and gives birth to actual babies. But the crowning moment of the novel is when she sees "somthing I had always known in my mind, but had never believed in my heart. 'You love me?' I wanted my ears to hear what my eyes could see. [....] 'I love you too.' This was a joy to say."
"For like all miracles, mine is known only as I experienced it. For others, there is only faith. Some hope is good too, and with love, no story I tell will matter a whit to anyone."
It's a miracle baby long in the birthing, welcomed and received with open hearts.
It takes her many months, hard bitter months while her mother is dying, to take in his love and give birth to her own love. Yes, she regains her fertility and gives birth to actual babies. But the crowning moment of the novel is when she sees "somthing I had always known in my mind, but had never believed in my heart. 'You love me?' I wanted my ears to hear what my eyes could see. [....] 'I love you too.' This was a joy to say."
"For like all miracles, mine is known only as I experienced it. For others, there is only faith. Some hope is good too, and with love, no story I tell will matter a whit to anyone."
It's a miracle baby long in the birthing, welcomed and received with open hearts.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 129 reviews