The Midwife of Hope River by Patricia Harman (ARC won through GoodReads) - thank you to both!

This is the second "midwife" book I've read - Midwives by CB was the first - and greatly enjoyed this one more than the other. I read primarily for "escapism" and the other was difficult (i.e. upsetting) to read. This book provided the escape into main character's (Patience Murphy) life that I look for in books.

The pace of this book is like the South – steady…slow…and it won't hurry no matter how much you try to rush it. I did this in the beginning because the pace annoyed me during the first two or three chapters. I realized later this tempo was set by Patience, of how she lived her life and created relationships. Soon I found myself immersed and finished it in less than two days at the beach. I especially liked having titles for each chapter, as they gave the reader a hint as to the slightly different focus for Patience, and what was going on in her life.

The background of the Great Depression is woven well throughout the story. Through Patience’s struggles of being paid, getting to births and even hearing about news from town, bring a subtle light as to what it was like to live during that time period in the mountains of West Virginia. The polarized lives of blacks and whites, men and women, rural and city dwellers are also part of Patience’s story.

Patience finds herself an inexperienced midwife after the death of her mentor during the 1930s. She's running from a past, and because of it, she not only physically isolates herself, but emotionally tries to do the same. But the births keep her tied to a community and the people in it. She finds everyone has a past, and as those continue to live life, she begins to live hers also.