Second book of the At Home in Trinity series.
In this book Martha, the district's midwife, is reunited with her daughter who had run away in the first book. But this came with a surprise guest who Victoria had been staying with in New York City. Victoria wants to go back with her to assist with their family's magazine business. It's not until the end of the book that we find out how that all worked out.
Also, in the first book, because Martha is a widow, and Thomas (the mayor and beau she broke up with about 25 years before) had expressed interest in courting and marrying her. We don't find out until the end of this book what her decision is. She's independent and wants to continue her midwife career, which is what broke them up so many years ago when he wasn't supportive.
Samuel (an old codger/ex-sailor) was losing his sight in the first book, and had taken in an orphan. In this book, he's lost his sight, so Martha tried to find a place or position for Samuel and a different family to adopt Will. We don't find out until the end what would come of that because they disappear when she "interferes".
This author is gifted in making you want to read "what happens next". Seems like every chapter has a scene with Martha opening a door or entering a house and there's either a surprise, shock or disaster as she enters. It was actually funny because it happened so often.
The theme of spousal abuse in the book was done fairly well. There were no explanations as the abuse was taking place, only the sight of the woman afterward. How so many rallied around her and the support she received immediately was impressive. Her decision to go back to him or leave him for fear of being killed was well done. He was a repentant bad guy who had the support of the reverend, and Martha felt the need to encourage the victim in what the scripture says about marriage, but had the good sense to watch him for sincerity.
I am so conflicted with this book. Part of me really liked the story, part of me was bothered by a few things portrayed oddly…
When they met on Sunday it was always called meeting, not church or church service. The church building was called meetinghouse. Completely different words were used for pregnancy, early labor and hard labor. I'd never heard of teeming, or forcing pain and grinding pain, or a groaning meal.
Martha's practice after a birth (or still birth) was to pray with the parents. After the still birth at the beginning of the book, she gathered with the parents, but the first paragraph in the "prayer" was talking to the dead baby. "Sweet angel boy, as you look down on us from above, you can see that you were much loved…etc". I've never known a person of faith to talk to a still born baby in a prayer.
The book never mentioned what kind of church it was, but there seemed to be only one in the town. If it was Quaker or Puritan, it wasn't mentioned, but it could account for the different wording
At one point Martha was actually described as a mediator between God and man. Yikes! I Timothy 2:5 would differ!
I thought the first book The Midwife's Tale was good, but also had some oddities. Those were a tad more glaring to me in this second book, probably because I was already aware of them.