The Midwife of Hope River: a Novel of an American Midwife by Patricia Harman

The Midwife of Hope River: A Novel of an American Midwife. Patricia Harman. William Morrow Paperbacks: An Imprint of Harper Collins. August 2012. 400 pages. ISBN #: 9780062198891.

Patience Murphy lives an isolated but adrenaline-kicking lifestyle.  At any time of the day or night, a person might knock on her door or a car pull up into her yard, seeking her very new skills as a midwife to help deliver a baby.  Sometimes everything goes oh so smoothly and yet there's always tension even until that last second when a baby emerges from his or her mother and is found to be healthy and whole when there is equal joy! But frequently, for various reasons, the baby has turned in utero and Patience has a huge challenge to deliver the baby, saving both the baby and its mother's life.  Pay comes in very, very small bills but more likely in the form of food or wood for a fire.  

For the Depression is looming over the entire nation and even the mines in West Virginia have closed or are very close to closing. Patience has wound up in this little country town because she fears the cops are after her, a story that gradually emerges throughout the entire novel.  

A neighboring veterinarian is the first to help Patience albeit after quite a bit of gruffness. But he later turns out to be more than a rough character and becomes a caring friend.  So what's the drama herein?  Could it be the delivering of animal young 'uns as well as human babies?  Could it be when a fierce ice storm glazes the area through which Patience must travel for another birth? Perhaps it's the husband who violently abuses his wife or anyone close enough to his rage?

There are several stories within this obvious surface story.  But the reader finds Patience to be an honest, straight-forward, caring woman who has picked the perfect profession for her and luckily for her patients. Unions and racism are volatile subjects to discuss or be a part of.  Patience, however, is a rebel for the most sincere reasons one would be a viable rebel; she cares more for people, their families, their finances that help them survive, etc. more than greed for more material possessions and more than the hate that turns cowards (KKK) into would-be killers!

The Midwife of Hope River is about second chances and rising above the smallness of those locked in "old time" ways and means! It's about sticking together and needing each other in a truly whole, community style. Nicely done, Ms. Harman!