The Birth House - A Novel

In this breathtaking debut novel, Ami McKay has created an unforgettable portrait of the struggles that women have faced to control their own bodies and to keep the best parts of tradition alive in the world of modern medicine. The Birth House is the story of Dora Rare--the first daughter in five generations of Rares. As apprentice to the outspoken Acadian midwife Miss Babineau, Dora learns to assist the women of an isolated Nova Scotian village through infertility, difficult labors, breech births, unwanted pregnancies, and even unfulfilling sex lives. During the turbulent World War I era, uncertainty and upheaval accompany the arrival of a brash new medical doctor and his promises of progress and fast, painless childbirth. Dora soon finds herself fighting to protect the rights of women as well as the wisdom that has been put into her care. A tale of tradition and science, matriarchy and paternalism, past and future, The Birth House is "a dazzling first novel." ( Library Journal ), and a story more timely than ever.

Product details

• Authors: Ami McKay
• Publisher: Harper Perennial USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 09.10.2007
• EAN: 9780061135873
• ISBN: 978-0-06-113587-3
• No. of pages: 416
• Dimensions: 135 mm x 203 mm x 24 mm
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature; Historical fiction, Second World War fiction, Narrative theme: Coming of age, Narrative theme: Sense of place, c 1938 to c 1946 (World War Two period), First World War fiction, Plays, Playscripts, c 1914 to c 1918 (World War One period), FICTION: Literary, FICTION: Women, FICTION: Family Life / General, FICTION: Romance / Contemporary, DRAMA: Women Authors, FICTION: Coming of Age, FICTION: Small Town & Rural *, FICTION: Friendship, FICTION: Medical, Saga fiction (family / generational sagas), Narrative theme: Health and illness, Modern and Contemporary romance