The Midwife's Daughter by Patricia Ferguson

'The Midwife's Daughter' by Patricia Ferguson

Violet Dimond, the Holy Terror, has delivered many of the town children - and often their children - in her capacity as handywoman. But Violet's calling is dying out as, with medicine's advances, the good old ways are no longer good enough.

Grace, Violet's adopted daughter, is a symbol of change herself. In the place where she has grown up and everyone knows her, she is accepted, though most of the locals never before saw a girl with skin that colour. For Violet and Grace the coming war will bring more upheaval into their lives: can they endure it, or will they, like so many, be swept aside by history's tide?

REVIEW

Very mixed feelings about this book. I started off enjoying the beginning of the story about Violet, the local unqualified midwife who delivered babies and laid out people from not so wealthy town folk. Violet adopts a black daughter and this brings huge upheaval to her life. The story starts of well, with issues of race, class and kindness, but I found the middle of the book a little boring and the ending was such a disappointment. I did expect a happy ending for Grace after her hard childhood but sadly this wasn't to happen. I felt the ending was rushed and that the author went in a direction that shocked not only me but all those in bookclub. We all felt let down with the ending. It's such a shame as the book was well written.

If you have nothing else to read, then I would recommend but otherwise not. There are a lot better books - it's the ending that let's it down.

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