What do readers think of The Secrets of Midwives by Sally Hepworth? Write your own review.

It was with great anticipation that I selected The Secret of Midwives. After all, I am an ardent fan of the PBS series Call the Midwife and still hold Chris Bohjalian's book, Midwives in a place of honor among thrilling reads. However, as I began to read, I quickly wondered if this was a good choice for me. A story of three generations of midwives, their secrets and their experiences. At first, it lacked a sense of theme, as it could have been any occupation; The Secrets of Lawyers, or Doctors, or any other occupation. However, stick with it and the wonders of the plight of midwives their challenges and triumphs unfold. The characters are developed with great care and their secrets told with unexpected consequences. A very discussable book for clubs who will certainly identify with one or more of the main characters.

Three generations of midwives with their own individual secrets. That is the premise of the book by Sally Hepworth "The Secrets of Midwives". This book was an easy read. The characters were believable and the author did a great job of giving the reader some insight to the world of midwifery. I thought it was well written and thoroughly enjoyed it. I would definitely recommend the book to those who love women's fiction.

The book captured my attention from the first page. I am always interested in reading books about women, but Midwives is more than that. The author's development of her characters let me really see them. These women certainly had faults, but there were also strong women with a clear sense of what is right and they had the courage to do the right thing. Especially Grace who was courageous enough to stay with her pregnant mothers, even while under investigation. I thought it took Neva much longer to figure out the right thing to do. This a book I would recommend that my book club read. Thank you for giving me the opportunity.

I thought this would be a lecture strongly promoting home births and knocking hospital births. Fortunately, not so. Three women with interesting personal secrets are just incidentally all midwives. Sometimes it was a little preachy and often empathetic--but all together a good fast read very much fiction, which I like.

I liked this book for a few reasons, mainly the character development. I found I liked all of the three main characters for different reasons. Their personal lives were revealed with flashbacks which worked well in this book because they were short and the plot returned easily. I liked the way the author kept the story moving with anticipation of who would find out what and when.
The ending was a bit of a surprise but with some touches of a romance novel.

The Secrets of Midwives is written following the lives of three generations of women who are all midwives. Neva, her mother Grace and her grandmother Floss all have secrets that they are guarding while dealing with the complexities of their differing views of midwifery. The research into the history of midwifery is well done and the story of the three generations of women is developed nicely as the book progress. Although these characters were well developed the men in their lives were less defined. This was the only disappointment in this generally well written and well researched story.

I enjoyed this novel of 3 generations of midwives. The narrative style with each character telling her story in alternating chapters was engaging and made the story line easy to follow. Since I am a women's health nurse practitioner, I particularly liked reading about the midwifery practice and deliveries. The three female protagonists were well developed and believable. The male side characters were more two dimensional, but since the story was not really about them, it was less important. My only criticism is that the story arc was very predictable and it became melodramatic near the end with Neva and Patrick's relationship. Otherwise I would recommend this novel to any woman who wanted a "light" read.

This was a quick read. Enjoyed the three person narration style which changed from chapter to chapter. Each main character had a different personality and approached similar topics with a different viewpoint. I did think the storyline was a bit predictable, but it flowed. If you are looking for a light, quick read this is a good choice.