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The Midwife's Confession

by Diane Chamberlain (Goodreads Author)

4.04 of 5 stars 4.04 · rating details · 10,517 ratings · 1,558 reviews

"Dear Anna, What I have to tell you is difficult to write, but I know it will be far more difficult for you to hear, and I'm so sorry..."

The unfinished letter is the only clue Tara and Emerson have to the reason behind their close friend Noelle's suicide. Everything they knew about Noelle--her calling as a midwife, her passion for causes, her love for her friends and famil...more

Paperback, 417 pages

Published June 17th 2011 by Mira Books (first published January 1st 2011)

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Apr 28, 2011 Sheree rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own, review-commitment, general-fiction, arc, read-in-2011

4.5 stars

What a nail-biter! An absolute labyrinth of twists, turns and just when you think you've got it all figured out ... bam another shocking revelation! Ok not all were the unexpected, knock-your-socks-off type revelation, some where the ... damn ... I knew it, kind, but still, quite a gut-wrenching rollercoaster ride.

I loved the seamlessly woven alternating narration from key characters and the flashbacks to past events. I loved the complexities of the mother-daughter relationships, I lo...more

32 likes · like · see review

Nov 14, 2012 Ellie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: physical-books, 2012, favorites, reviewed, contemporary, womens-lit

It took me a couple of chapters to get into this novel but once I did I was hooked!

The chapters are written from the point of view of the five main characters giving the reader a number of different perspectives on the events as the story unfold. Every time you think you've guessed the big secret it moves to another level and you realise what you think you've guessed is only a tiny piece of the puzzle.

This is a fabulous novel. It is extremely well-written with an emotional and moving story. I...more

7 likes · like · see review

Jul 03, 2011 Staci rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Staci by: Sheree

Shelves: netgalley-books, 2011-reads

My thoughts:
I had read so many great reviews of this title that I just had to get my hands on a copy. I'm a bit ashamed to admit that I finally realized that I was approved to download a copy of this to my Kindle months ago from NetGalley....I just was too lazy to figure out how to do it. Well, thanks to my fellow book lovers and their awesome reviews, I was motivated to learn how to get that ebook on my lovely Kindle. And I'm so happy that I did because this was a fantastic read!! I was drawn i...more

9 likes · like · see review

Feb 15, 2012 Leslie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a book chosen by someone at bookclub, and as usual, once I started reading it I had to finish it. It's kind of like being 'pot committed' if you like poker terminology; I had already spent so many hours reading, I figured that I should just stay up and finish. Don't know if that's simply because the book is so good or had more to do with really enjoying those quiet midnight hours to myself.

Anyhow, back to the book... Wow, the lies that are told and the secrets that are kept are staggeri...more

3 likes · like · see review

Apr 20, 2011 Annie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle

There’s a small handful of authors who you know can be relied upon to hook you in from page one, take you swooping through twists and turns of story, with well-written and likeable characters and the feeling (when you come out of the wringer at the other end ) that you’ve thoroughly enjoyed a really, really good book and can’t wait for her next. Jodi Picoult’s one. Heather Gudenkauf is another. And then there’s Diane Chamberlain. This was everything I want in a book – secrets, love, friendship,...more

11 likes · like · see review

Jun 06, 2011 April rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-reads

One of the best books I have read this year. Diane Chamberlain writes in the same style as Jodi Picoult; however, the twists, turns, and drama are never forced, obvious, or far-fetched. I got this book yesterday afternoon and absolutely devoured it. I couldn't put it down. I found myself sneaking away from the boys to read a chapter and then stayed up far too late finishing it.

As with many of her books, just when you think you've got it figured out Chamberlain throws you another curveball. And t...more

4 likes · like · see review

Mar 01, 2012 Lucy rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I don't even know how to write this without spoilers so consider this your big spoiler alert.

Ugh.

My apologies to Diane Chamberlain, who I'm sure is a nice woman with lots of ideas and talent, but The Midwife's Confession gives fiction a bad name. I feel rather strongly that fiction has a lot more to offer than escapism or entertainment. I feel its medium is especially suited to teach - namely empathy and understanding for the multitude of life experiences we'll most likely never have as individ...more I don't even know how to write this without spoilers so consider this your big spoiler alert.

Ugh.

My apologies to Diane Chamberlain, who I'm sure is a nice woman with lots of ideas and talent, but The Midwife's Confession gives fiction a bad name. I feel rather strongly that fiction has a lot more to offer than escapism or entertainment. I feel its medium is especially suited to teach - namely empathy and understanding for the multitude of life experiences we'll most likely never have as individuals. Additionally, I have learned from Tolstoy and Stagner and Steinbeck and Stockett and many others that no matter our color or religion or age or gender, we are all a lot more similar than it seems. So are our relationships with others. Toss in some history, geography, or any area of expertise (governing, medicine, cooking, sports, kite flying), a few conflicts for flavor, steady it with good writing and better editing, and, voila, you've got yourself some quality fiction.

What does not make quality fiction is unbelievable, unlikely and ridiculous drama. Again, those kinds of stories may be entertaining to some but it feels like such a waste of pages and ink to me. What can possibly be the purpose of reading about three women who meet at college and become BFFs and all live in the same town and all still hang out regularly together (unlikely) until one of them unexpectedly commits suicide? Is it likely that those who have been adopted relate to becoming a midwife because they happened to be given to the midwife who delivered them (unbelievable)? Or that they identify with the woman who secretly discovers the names of her birth parents while moving her adoptive mother's furniture because she kept her daughter's birth file in an old swivel chair (unlikely)? Maybe we can glean a bit of that universal human condition by reading about about happens when you accidentally drop your newborn baby niece that was just born to your sister who thinks you're really just her old RA from college turned friend because you were high on prescription drugs that you secretly take due to a back injury from a car accident that happened on the night you slept with your best friend's fiance who you will always love even though he then marries your best friend so you become engaged to his partner but use your old lover as your attorney to arranges the paperwork for the five surrogate children you secretely deliver to help you atone for the fact that you replaced the dead baby that you hid in your purse at the hospital, stealing a baby from a woman in a coma who now has another daughter who needs a bone marrow transplant but now this secret niece of yours who was raised by your secret sister of yours discovers that she is the stolen baby and maybe can save her real sister's life by donating her genetically similar bone marrow?

No?

And don't get me started on the jolted first person narratives between five or six or seven different women. It's like she didn't know how to write one story so she just changed to have someone narrate when they needed to express how they felt or what was going on in their life or what secret they had. I never really like this style but Chamberlain's use of it felt downright lazy.

Like I said - unbelievable, unlikely, ridiculous. Criminal. Stupid.
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Apr 04, 2011 karen otto rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, anything-by, netgalley

I have long been a Diane Chamberlain fan, and Midwife's Confession is a great example of why. I was thrilled that NetGalley had it up for review, and have chafed reading it in dribs and drabs over the last couple of weeks while waiting for the NetGalley-Kindle fix to appear.NOW -- I charged through this book as soon as Kindle edition became available this week.

Tara, Emerson and Noelle have been friends for 20 years, the kind of friends we all cherish and long for. Connected, supportive, nourish...more

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May 01, 2011 Julie Smith (Knitting and Sundries) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, reviewed

This review first appeared on my blog: http://www.knittingandsundries.com/20...

Tara, whose husband Sam recently died in a car accident, teaches at Hunter High School, where her daughter Grace is also a student. Her best friends are Noelle, a midwife who also runs a babies-in-need program, and Emerson, whose daughter Jenny is also Grace's best friend.

The three women have been besties since college, and Noelle delivered Tara's baby. When Noelle commits suicide in the cottage she rents from Emerson...more This review first appeared on my blog: http://www.knittingandsundries.com/20...

Tara, whose husband Sam recently died in a car accident, teaches at Hunter High School, where her daughter Grace is also a student. Her best friends are Noelle, a midwife who also runs a babies-in-need program, and Emerson, whose daughter Jenny is also Grace's best friend.

The three women have been besties since college, and Noelle delivered Tara's baby. When Noelle commits suicide in the cottage she rents from Emerson, she leaves many more questions than answers. When Tara finds a box with thank you notes and baby pictures, she also finds an unfinished letter of apology with a shocking written confession. As she and Emerson try to puzzle out who the letter was meant for, more secrets will be revealed, and they find out that they didn't know their friend as well as they thought they did. Her secrets lead to an explosive and heartbreaking discovery, and the power of friendship and the idea of family is tested.

I was drawn in to the unraveling mysteries in this novel. Written around the themes of motherhood, friends, family, and loss, the multiple POV's and flashbacks help us unravel the story of Noelle, who for me was the most interesting character in the book. Even though what Noelle did was something that every mother fears, her reasons for it are complex and driven, and we find that she has lived with this guilt for so long because of the love she felt. Nothing can excuse what she's done, but as a reader, I could feel the pain that caused her to do so, and actually felt a few twists of my heart as I read about it.

A solid and intriguing read that will keep you turning pages until the wee hours of the morning, The Midwife's Confession is perfect for the reader who enjoys mystery, family drama, and friendship.

QUOTES

If you have a friend, I pondered, a good friend, a woman you love, and you learn she's done something abominable, do you stop loving her?

It was good she had done this, she thought. Yes, she'd betrayed on of her closest friends and she knew that would haunt her, but she'd needed to do it to let Sam go.(less)

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Mar 27, 2011 Sharon rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2011

I really don't know why I'm not giving this a 5. A story about best friends, mothers and daughters and the secrets that are kept and lies that are told...and how it can turn your life around for better or worse. I can honestly say that I don't know how authors come up with stories like this with so many twists and turns and still able to tell it seamlessly. I love Diane Chamberlain's work and this one was just as good as the rest. I will definitely recommend this book. Well done!

I received this...more

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Mar 22, 2013 Annalynn rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was my first book by this author, and as a whole, I liked it a lot. It reminded me a lot of a Jodi Picoult novel, if that helps. Its a fascinating, gripping, page-turner, with some interesting characters and a good plot. I was drawn in to the story from the first page, and its hard to put down. That being said, I felt there were just a *few* too many twists/plots going on. The rest of the review may verge into spoiler territory, although I'll try and keep it vague.

Basically there are three...more

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Aug 16, 2012 Ste80 rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Appartenente alla neonata linea di romanzi Mondadori che propone i migliori bestsellers internazionali delle autrici di punta del panorama americano, ed edito lo scorso giugno 2012, "Come parole nel vento" di Diane Chamberlain, mi ha affascinata per le esperienze forti che racconta.

È un romanzo che dolcemente, in punta di piedi, ti spezza il cuore e te lo ricompone usando come collante attimi di puro amore.

È un romanzo composto da più storie intrecciate. Amiche, sorelle, segreti, legami profondi...more Appartenente alla neonata linea di romanzi Mondadori che propone i migliori bestsellers internazionali delle autrici di punta del panorama americano, ed edito lo scorso giugno 2012, "Come parole nel vento" di Diane Chamberlain, mi ha affascinata per le esperienze forti che racconta.

È un romanzo che dolcemente, in punta di piedi, ti spezza il cuore e te lo ricompone usando come collante attimi di puro amore.

È un romanzo composto da più storie intrecciate. Amiche, sorelle, segreti, legami profondi e conflittuali. È una storia di perdono.

Ogni capitolo è visto dalla prospettiva di una donna diversa: Noelle, Tara, Emerson, amiche inseparabili, Jenny e Grace, ragazze che condividono le gioie ed i dolori della loro adolescenza fianco a fianco, Anna, una madre a cui venne rapita la sua primogenita ancora in fasce e Haley, una ragazza di tredici anni malata di leucemia.
Le vite di queste persone si incontrano e si scontrano, si intrecciano come fili di un arazzo dai tanti colori.

«Non so cosa stia succedendo, Grace, ma certe volte le cose accadono per un motivo, anche se non lo capiamo»

Tutta la narrazione ruota intorno a Noelle, che purtroppo si suiciderà con una dose abbondante di calmanti già nelle prime pagine del libro, portando con sé i segreti inconfessabili che le laceravano l'anima.
Inutile dirvi la rete di segreti che vengono scoperti pagina dopo pagina, vi rovinerei solo il gusto della lettura e della scoperta. Posso però dirvi che non troverete tempi morti: ogni pagina donerà rivelazioni importanti e spunti di riflessione profonda.

Si può perdonare che sbaglia per amore?

È un romanzo triste, anche perché non sarà solamente la morte di Noelle a funestare le pagine del racconto; anche il triste ricordo della morte del marito di Tara, nonché padre di Grace, Sam, scomparso qualche mese prima, aggiunge un senso di dispiacere a queste pagine.

I fatti che narra sono sconvolgenti e dolorosi, ma l'autrice usa un tono talmente dolce e delicato che sì, fa brillare gli occhi, ma non mi ha fatto bagnare le pagine con copiose lacrime.
I personaggi sono realistici e vivi e le situazioni che affrontano hanno un forte slancio emotivo tale per cui, più volte, mi son trovata ad esclamare "non è possibile!".

È un romanzo che consiglio sicuramente per l'intensità con cui coinvolge il lettore. Appassiona pagina dopo pagina e non vi lascia più andare. Proverete le gioie ed i dolori delle protagoniste senza aver il coraggio di biasimarle. Del resto, Diane Chamberlain è autrice di una ventina di romanzi tutti di grande successo, e per me era scontato che questa sarebbe diventata una lettura indimenticabile.

Se cercate un romanzo che regali un'esperienza intima e vera, toccante, che vi faccia affezionare ai personaggi condividendo sprazzi della loro vita, un romanzo che vi resterà nel cuore, questo è quello che fa per voi. Per me è stata una lettura delicatissima ed indimenticabile.(less)

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Aug 09, 2012 Clo rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. What can I say about this book??! Alot of things!It was fabulous.

Ok, so pretty soon on I realised the connection between Noelle and Emerson so that was no major shock, but the baby swap? Oh dear, I had goosebumps and I didn't have a clue who to feel for the most, yes, I felt sorry for all parties.

Noelle, I struggled to understand this character, yes she obviously killed herself because she couldn't bear the guilt, but what got me, why did it take ten years of that guilt to come through and make...more

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Jul 03, 2012 Becky rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book reminded me a lot of another I read earlier this year: BELONG TO ME. Not sure which one I liked better. This one didn't get an "F" for using the "F-bomb" like BELONG TO ME did, but I think the characters in BELONG TO ME were more defined and there were lines in the earlier read that actually made me laugh out loud. I liked that this book kept me guessing until almost the very end. I'm not sure how I feel about the ending. I mean, once the "mystery" was solved, it just went flat. It lef...more

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Mar 25, 2012 Kim rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 5-star-books, kindle-library

~~~~ BOOK CLUB!!! ~~~~

This book screams book club. There are a zillion different relational dynamics to explore in this story! If not book club, then pick a friend to read it with because you'll really want to talk about it as you go. Now that I think of it, this would also be a great book to read and use as a class case study. I remember doing that in college for several social work classes - pick a character and explore the dynamics of their relationships and their world from their perspective...more ~~~~ BOOK CLUB!!! ~~~~

This book screams book club. There are a zillion different relational dynamics to explore in this story! If not book club, then pick a friend to read it with because you'll really want to talk about it as you go. Now that I think of it, this would also be a great book to read and use as a class case study. I remember doing that in college for several social work classes - pick a character and explore the dynamics of their relationships and their world from their perspective. Then write a paper about it - UGH. Okay, so maybe not!

Unfortunately I cannot relate much of what lies within the cover of this wonderful novel for fear of letting even just ONE of the cats out of the bag. Honestly, when I picked up this book I had something really different in mind. I have a significant curiousity about midwivery. I have five children, all born in the hospital and totally WITH DRUGS. Maybe that is the source of my interest, what kind of woman could actually deal with the horrific pain with noooo assistance? They must be very committed and very strong mothers to be. Then...what kind of woman is strong enough to take that pain on continually FOR others - being the only one they look to for HELP and relief from their agony? I remember how thankful I felt to the nurses who assited my children's births. But it's never all placed on the shoulders of one nurse. When your nurse's shift is over, they leave and you get who's next in line. A midwife follows through from beginning of the pregnancy to the baby's birth. It seems a huge responsibility. I admire not only the commitment involved and the care that must be involved with each patient. But then there are also the politics...midwives are not always truly welcomed and treated favorably by the physicians that oversee their cases. That is more of what I expected to get from this book. Some lovely births and the hardships that go along with being a midwife. This book was SOO much more than that. It's entirely about relationships, secrets held, friendship and what it means to be a family.

I would recommend this book to all women. Even if you don't have children, you are someone's child - so everyone can relate in some way. Very powerful book. An amazing 5 stars for this one! (less)

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Feb 27, 2012 Heather rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I have to stop reading Chamberlain's books. I have to. I read the reviews on here and thought it would be better than the last one I read, but it was not. Stop reading now if you don't want spoilers.

In this story Noelle is a midwife and she has a lot of secrets. She also has two best friends, Emerson and Tara. One night, for reasons that no one knows Noelle ends her own life. This leads Emerson and Tara on a quest to find out what was going on with their good friend. Noelle was hiding a lot. The...more

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Jan 06, 2012 Hazel McHaffie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is my first introduction to Diane Chamberlain. Se's in the mould of Jodi Picoult but less formulaic. The same multiple first person points of view. The same focus on relationships. But less phoney psychoanalysis and philosophical musings (thankfully!)
The Midwife's Confession explores the themes of mother/daughter relationships principally, but also enduring female relationships, and there's a certain kind of authenticity in Chamberlain's writing that I think probably stems from her years a...more

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Sep 16, 2011 Karah rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Well, I think I have found a new favorite author. I love how Diane Chamberlain hooks you immediately, and forces you to keep reading--even when you should be tending to your laundry, dishes, and other chores!

This book is written from the viewpoint of five women, which makes the reader come to care about the characters very deeply. As the book begins, we introduced to the midwife, Noelle, who is just about to commit suicide. Although she hints at the reason she has come to this decision, it take...more Well, I think I have found a new favorite author. I love how Diane Chamberlain hooks you immediately, and forces you to keep reading--even when you should be tending to your laundry, dishes, and other chores!

This book is written from the viewpoint of five women, which makes the reader come to care about the characters very deeply. As the book begins, we introduced to the midwife, Noelle, who is just about to commit suicide. Although she hints at the reason she has come to this decision, it takes the remainder of the book to explain everything.

Two women, Tara & Emmerson, met in college and became best friends. They also befriended their R.A., who just happens to be Emmerson's biological sister. Of course, only Noelle knows this tiny fact and the other women don't learn it until after her death. It turns out that Noelle had many secrets. Among them was the fact that she and Tara's deceased husband, Sam, had been very close friends and had even slept together on one occasion. Her larger secret was that she had dropped a newborn baby, resulting in its death. In her panic, she stole another newborn from the nursery and replaced the dead infant.

While she thought she had covered her tracks and burned every record, she accidentally left an unfinished letter in a box of discarded letters. Emmerson finds the letter and begins to obsessively try to put the pieces together. Eventually, the pieces of the puzzle fall together and it is determined that Emmerson's biological baby was the baby that had died.

Chamberlain did a nice job of answering questions in the epilogue, but I honestly felt that this book climaxed a bit late. It almost seemed like the epilogue was a quick way to finish the book. And while I appreciated the book being written in several different viewpoints, I found myself more interested in the Noelle chapters, as they took us back in time--to "when things were happening". However, I loved how much I came to care for the characters. Chamberlain has a gift for connecting with the readers--glad I'm one of her fans. :) (less)

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Aug 14, 2011 Anna rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Tara, Emerson and Noelle have been friends since they met at college. Tara, now a recently widowed teacher, and Emerson, who has recently opened a café, both have sixteen year old daughters. Noelle has never married and has dedicated her life to midwifery.

Tara and Emerson are shocked to the core when Noelle commits suicide, but as they sort through her paperwork they begin to realise that there were many things they did not know about the life of their friend. To their horror facts start to unf...more

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Jul 29, 2011 Shinelle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I picked this up in a supermarket, because I had an hour to kill waiting for someone. By the time my friend arrived, I wanted her to go away so I could finish the book. The novel focuses on the idea that you may not really know the people you know best, without slipping into the drippy or the maudlin. The prologue and opening chapter highlight two important facts about depression: that there's no telling when it will take you over the edge; it really can be that sudden, and that it is entirely p...more

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Jul 24, 2011 SJSU ALASC rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A definite read for defining the complexity of close friendships, and the even more the complex relationship between mothers and daughters. I only gave it 4 stars because throughout the book it was hard to follow the characters. Each chapter is from a different character's perspective. I had thought it would've been helpful for Chamberlain to outline the characters in the beginning but it becomes clear at the end of the book why she didn't.

As you read the story, you get a sense of predictabilit...more

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Jul 14, 2011 Alpa Dedhia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Noelle, Tara and Emerson have been best since their college days.Noelle is a midwife and had been involved with Tara's and Emerson's baby.The story starts with
Noelle committing suicide and Tara and Emerson couldn't uderstand why.Noelle seemed to be a
strong and happy person and the reason for suicide was beyond Tara's and Emerson's comprehension.Sometimes you really dont know a person, no matter how long and deep friendship you have shared with them.Tara and Emerson have to know the reason and t...more
Noelle, Tara and Emerson have been best since their college days.Noelle is a midwife and had been involved with Tara's and Emerson's baby.The story starts with
Noelle committing suicide and Tara and Emerson couldn't uderstand why.Noelle seemed to be a
strong and happy person and the reason for suicide was beyond Tara's and Emerson's comprehension.Sometimes you really dont know a person, no matter how long and deep friendship you have shared with them.Tara and Emerson have to know the reason and they start to find the reason.As they start finding out more about Noelle, they come across hidden secrets and truth related to all of them.

I really cannot speak anymore of the story.I think I would give in a lot.As you finish a chapter you will have questions and truths to handle.The most interesting part of this book is relationships.So i would love to talk about them.

Let me start with Tara and her daughter Grace.This relationship was most talked about in the book and it is really interesting.sam, Tara's husband died ten months before.Since then Tara is struggling with a loss that can never be replaced and a daughter who never listens.Tara and Grace never really connected as mother and daughter.Grace had a very good relationship with Sam and connected very well with him.Grace also had a break up with her boyfriend and she doesn't really seem to come out of it.Grace is struggling with a parental loss and breakup.Tara does try to fix things with her but it really doesn't seem to get anywhere.

Emerson and her daughter Jenny share a good relationship.But nothing is really mentioned about them much in the book.I wish Diane Chamberlain could have written a bit more about them.

Tara and Emerson find an unfinished letter by Noelle addressed to Anna.So that is really a starting point for their answers.Anna has a daughter Hailey and she did lose her elder daughter few days after she was born.Hailey is suffering from cancer and it seems she may die soon.Anna's husband left her soon after they figured about Hailey's cancer.A single mother taking care of soon to die daughter was very sympathetic and warm relationship to read.

I am sure you would like these relationships and the problem and love these ladies have for their daughters is written very well.

I might have made this book sound like a relationship guide but in fact it is a page turner.Every few pages you get a shock and a new hidden truth to handle.I think the revealing of truth is very well handled and very well written by author.Every chapter starts with a person speaking and it is like reading and understanding the story from that person's point of view.It might get messy reading story from every person's perspective but author has handled this concept really well and it worked for me.

Talking about characters, Noelle is the one on whom whole book is based as Tara and Emerson are trying find reason for her suicide.The first thing that comes to my mind when you talk about Noelle is how much can someone hide from her best friend.How can you betray your best friends? How can you live like that? You will hate and pity her at the same time.

Tara is a struggling mother and she is trying to cope with loss of her husband.She is trying to make things work with her daughter but at the same time she cannot agree with her arrogant and disrespectful behavior.You will be sympathetic to her and Diane makes her character sound real.Emerson, being closest to Noelle, is true to her friendship and all the while figuring out the reason for her suicide.Anna comes across as a strong women and her sufferings just make you respect her because of they way she handles them.

The Midwife's Confession is page turner and easy read and a great pick for book clubs.
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Jun 28, 2011 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: june-11

This book focusses on secrets. The main character, Noelle commits suicide in the first chapter so it is strange to view her as the main character but she is central to most of the other storylines. Her good friends Tara and Emerson can't understand why she has committed suicide so they begin to delve deeper into her past and discover secret siblings, surrogacy and baby swapping.

Tara is also trying to come to terms with her husband's death and both she and Emerson have teenage daughters who both...more

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Jun 01, 2011 Louise rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literature-fiction

The story starts in Wilmington, North Carolina in September of 2010. Noelle is planning to commit suicide that night. She said she had no idea that: “...this would be the day she could no longer carry the weight?” Noelle was sitting outside under the moon whispering out loud: “I love you world.” The weight of her secret was pressing down on her hard. She turned off her computer and got everything ready and was spending one last time outside under the stars.

Tara has just lost her lawyer husband,...more The story starts in Wilmington, North Carolina in September of 2010. Noelle is planning to commit suicide that night. She said she had no idea that: “...this would be the day she could no longer carry the weight?” Noelle was sitting outside under the moon whispering out loud: “I love you world.” The weight of her secret was pressing down on her hard. She turned off her computer and got everything ready and was spending one last time outside under the stars.

Tara has just lost her lawyer husband, Sam, in a car accident and she is grieving. Ian, one of their good friends is taking over Sam’s cases and has been at the house a lot going through the case files he had at home.

Grace, Tara’s and Sam’s teenage daughter is avoiding her mother at all costs, she was much closer to her Dad than she is to her Mom, so she too is grieving. But not helping matters is the fact Grace’s boyfriend broke up with her before he left for college sending Grace into a whirlwind of more grief, aggravation, and anxiety. Grace is also annoyed because Noelle has been emailing her non-stop asking Grace and Sam’s daughter Jenny to: “...make things for her babies-in-need program” and they want no part of it. About an hour later, Tara’s friend Emerson calls her to ask if she has heard from or seen Noelle? Tara tells her she hasn’t spoken to her in about 3 days and Emerson says Noelle was supposed to stop by her place last night but never showed up nor called. She was now in her car on her way over to Noelle’s house to ask why she didn’t show up the evening before. Noelle was a midwife but had given it up a year ago when she started her “babies-in-need program”. Giving up her midwifery meant she had to live on her savings.

What Emerson, Tara, Ian, and Grace learn about Noelle will blow your socks off!! This was an intensely engaging story of three people with a tragic past, complicated present and an unknown future who must struggle with trust, betrayal, and forgiveness.

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May 23, 2011 Stephanie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mainstream

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May 17, 2011 Samantha Robey rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I love giving five stars, and the latest novel by Diane Chamberlain earns them all. The Midwife’s Confession is a tangled story of friendship and love, secrets and betrayal, and realistic characters that will make you cry while you see their story unfold. Tara, Emerson, and Noelle have been friends for years, but when Noelle commits suicide, leaving behind only an unfinished note, Tara and Emerson find out they might not have truly known their friend. The complex mystery that surrounds not only...more

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May 06, 2011 chanceofbooks rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-keepers, 2011-read, netgalley

Five Umbrella Friday Pick of the Week at Cloudy with a Chance of Books http://www.chanceofbooks.com

Attention Mama friends! I have your summer book club selection right here. Diane Chamberlin has *the* women’s fiction tear jerker of the season with an offering sure to ignite book club discussions across the country. This was not an easy read, and when I was done, I desperately wanted to make someone, anyone read it RIGHT THAT DARN MINUTE so that I could discuss at length. In other words, it was a...more Five Umbrella Friday Pick of the Week at Cloudy with a Chance of Books http://www.chanceofbooks.com

Attention Mama friends! I have your summer book club selection right here. Diane Chamberlin has *the* women’s fiction tear jerker of the season with an offering sure to ignite book club discussions across the country. This was not an easy read, and when I was done, I desperately wanted to make someone, anyone read it RIGHT THAT DARN MINUTE so that I could discuss at length. In other words, it was awesome even as it turned me inside out.

The base premise is familiar: when their best friend since college commits suicide, two early 40s women are left searching for answers. The execution, however, is stunning in the web of secrets and lies uncovered in a masterful plot that relies on a rotating cast of narrators, including the deceased in flashbacks, to uncover the confession the midwife just couldn’t bring herself to make. The lives of three families are changed forever, and the women at the heart of the story are what make it so readable and compelling. Each is a sympathetic, complex character, and my heart just bled for them over and over.

I carried my nook from room to room, refusing to skim ahead, yet unable to function until I found out the truth. Except the truth kept changing and mutating, and the solving of one mystery merely led to another in a brilliant, twisting path of deception that kept my pulse racing all the way to the epilogue. I’m being purposely vague about the plot as that rollercoaster sense of what-the-heck is happening is priceless. Make no mistake, however, Chamberlin ferrets out all of our hot buttons as women—unexpected death, motherhood, adultery, separation, adoption, birth, parenthood, lying, identity—and jumps all over them with her wicked pen. But it’s not in a gratuitous way at all, and the book deftly avoids sinking into lifetime-movie-of-the-week melodrama (although it certainly is a 10 hanky read). Chamberlin has a rich backlist, yet somehow I’ve missed out on her unique offering to the women’s fiction market. Fans of Susan Wiggs, Robyn Carr, and Jodi Picoult will adore this heart wrenching tale of friendship and the lengths one is willing to go to protect those we love most. (less)

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Apr 12, 2011 Stephanie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I went to the website and read the first chapter and knew that I had to read the rest. This one drew me in and kept me hooked. Over the course of the book, you will get perspectives from all the female characters. That is one thing - the men in the book are very much minor characters. They are important in how they fit into the female characters lives but not as people themselves. However, in this case, that makes sense. This is chick lit at it's finest. Tara, Emerson and Noelle have a bond that...more

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Apr 10, 2011 Ruth rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The suicide of a close friend sends two women on a search to discovery why this seemingly happy woman took her own life. Going through the papers Noelle left behind, Tara and Emerson learn that Noelle had many secrets, and as readers we learn of even more than they do.

Chapters are told in the point of view of different characters and are headed with the character's name, and sometimes, with the date and place as Chamberlain frequently takes us back to past events.

I found this to be an engaging...more

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Apr 04, 2011 Christa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook-arc

I found this book to be full of unexpected twists. It kept me guessing what would happen next, and I just could not put the book down. The Midwife's Confession has some really good, strong characters. It is the story of three friends - Tara, Emerson, and Noelle. Tara, recently widowed and trying to put her life back together, was my favorite. I enjoyed the friend ship between she and Emerson. I also really liked the secondary character of Anna Knightley, a strong woman who has faced the disappea...more

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About Diane Chamberlain

I'm the author of 22 novels published in more than eleven languages. I like to write complex stories about relationships between men and women, parents and children, brothers and sisters, and friends. Although the thematic focus of my books often revolves around family, love, compassion and forgiveness, my stories usually feature a combination of suspense, mystery and intrigue.

I live in North Car...more

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Secrets She Left Behind (Before the Storm #2)

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“Sometimes it was hard to express how much you loved someone. You said the words, but you could never quite capture the depth of it. You could never quite hold someone tightly enough.” — 33 people liked it

“If you have a friend, a good friend, a woman you love, and you learn she’s done something abominable, do you stop loving her?” — 1 person liked it

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