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The Forgotten Midwife
Not yet published
Expected 12 May 26
Set in the dual timelines of present-day and 1950s Ireland and based on real historical events, a powerful, poignant novel of feminism and resilience that follows the life of a young woman consigned to work in a home for “fallen girls” who quickly realizes she must risk everything to protect them.
New Jersey, 2023. Riley Carmichael is getting married and finally joining a huge, loving family but can’t help but feel the emptiness of her own side of the church. For most of Riley’s life it’s just been her and her wonderful grandmother, Betty, but as late-stage dementia overtakes her grandmother’s mind, Riley knows she’s losing her, too. On one of Riley’s visits to Betty’s nursing home, she encounters her grandmother in one of her increasingly rare moments of lucidity as Betty desperately hands Riley a tatty birth certificate for an unknown baby born in Ireland in the 1950s. Full of questions about her heritage, Riley embarks on a trip to Ireland to find that elusive sense of home.
Tipperary, Ireland, 1954. Margaret Lannigan’s life is made up of weekly dances and spending time with the love of her life, Joseph. But when Margaret’s older sister suddenly passes away, it falls to Margaret to fulfill the family’s commitment to the the eldest daughter of the Lannigan family has joined the Sisters of Mercy nuns for generations. Forced to part with Joseph and take the veil, Margaret is sent to a Home for Fallen Girls to care for expectant mothers who fell pregnant outside of marriage. With no training or midwifery skills, she must fight to provide compassionate care she feels these women deserve amid the cruelty and abuse they face.
When Margaret meets a young and terrified Delia O’Rourke, the sister of her childhood best friend, she must find the strength she needs to protect this young woman and her baby in the face of a system built to ensure they disappear.
Based on true historical events, The Forgotten Midwife is a powerful and emotional story of the women lost to Ireland’s “mother and baby homes,” as well as the young women forced to join the orders that ran the establishments. Told with courage and heart, it’s a haunting, hopeful novel of feminine strength, found family, and love that transcends oppression.
New Jersey, 2023. Riley Carmichael is getting married and finally joining a huge, loving family but can’t help but feel the emptiness of her own side of the church. For most of Riley’s life it’s just been her and her wonderful grandmother, Betty, but as late-stage dementia overtakes her grandmother’s mind, Riley knows she’s losing her, too. On one of Riley’s visits to Betty’s nursing home, she encounters her grandmother in one of her increasingly rare moments of lucidity as Betty desperately hands Riley a tatty birth certificate for an unknown baby born in Ireland in the 1950s. Full of questions about her heritage, Riley embarks on a trip to Ireland to find that elusive sense of home.
Tipperary, Ireland, 1954. Margaret Lannigan’s life is made up of weekly dances and spending time with the love of her life, Joseph. But when Margaret’s older sister suddenly passes away, it falls to Margaret to fulfill the family’s commitment to the the eldest daughter of the Lannigan family has joined the Sisters of Mercy nuns for generations. Forced to part with Joseph and take the veil, Margaret is sent to a Home for Fallen Girls to care for expectant mothers who fell pregnant outside of marriage. With no training or midwifery skills, she must fight to provide compassionate care she feels these women deserve amid the cruelty and abuse they face.
When Margaret meets a young and terrified Delia O’Rourke, the sister of her childhood best friend, she must find the strength she needs to protect this young woman and her baby in the face of a system built to ensure they disappear.
Based on true historical events, The Forgotten Midwife is a powerful and emotional story of the women lost to Ireland’s “mother and baby homes,” as well as the young women forced to join the orders that ran the establishments. Told with courage and heart, it’s a haunting, hopeful novel of feminine strength, found family, and love that transcends oppression.
Kindle Edition
Expected publication May 12, 2026
11678 people want to read
About the author
Laura Anthony
2 books370 followersLaura Anthony is the author of THE WOMEN ON PLATFORM TWO, and the forthcoming novel THE FORGOTTEN MIDWIFE (May 2026). Laura lives in Kildare, Ireland, with her husband, children, and their exceptionally fluffy dog who insists on supervising all writing sessions!
Learn more (or say hi!) at www.laura-anthony.com
Learn more (or say hi!) at www.laura-anthony.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
March 10, 2026
Review of advance copy received from Simon and Schuster Canada on NetGallery.
4.5 This was my first time reading Laura Anthony, and it definitely won’t be my last. Her previous book, The Women on Platform Two, is now firmly on my to-read list, and I can’t wait to see what she writes next.
Inspired by real events, this novel offers a moving look at the experiences of young “fallen” women sent to convents in the past. Having recently read Small Things Like These, I loved seeing a similar story told from a completely different perspective — through the eyes of a nun who quietly struggles with the cruelty she witnesses.
It’s an emotional read and at its heart is a story about compassion, resilience, and the strength women within themselves and from other women in the most difficult of situations.
4.5 This was my first time reading Laura Anthony, and it definitely won’t be my last. Her previous book, The Women on Platform Two, is now firmly on my to-read list, and I can’t wait to see what she writes next.
Inspired by real events, this novel offers a moving look at the experiences of young “fallen” women sent to convents in the past. Having recently read Small Things Like These, I loved seeing a similar story told from a completely different perspective — through the eyes of a nun who quietly struggles with the cruelty she witnesses.
It’s an emotional read and at its heart is a story about compassion, resilience, and the strength women within themselves and from other women in the most difficult of situations.
March 15, 2026
I’d say this is a 4.5! Powerful storytelling that illustrated a time of history I did not know about. Stories like this make me realize how recently that women have not been treated fairly. However the story doesn’t feel hopeless despite the tragic things that are happening to the characters. The characters are resilient, courageous, and work together to overcome adversity. I love how the modern day chapters woven throughout help tie the story together and help teach the importance of learning about our past. Thank you Net Galley for the advanced copy!
March 29, 2026
Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the free copy for review.
Plot
In 1950s Ireland, Margaret Lannigan is forced to leave behind the man she loves and join a Home for Fallen Girls to care for expectant mothers who fell pregnant outside of marriage. As she witnesses the cruelty inflicted on vulnerable young women, Margaret risks everything to protect the girls.
Thoughts
An easy 5-star read for me. Very educational, powerful, emotional, and shocking. I had never heard of Magdalene Laundries, but I went down the rabbit hole to do more research. I had to double-check the timeframe because I could not believe this was happening in Ireland in the 50s and 60s. I had to pause a few times to fully process what was happening in this story. The main characters demonstrated remarkable resilience and courage as they came together to confront and overcome the horrible treatment these girls endured.
Plot
In 1950s Ireland, Margaret Lannigan is forced to leave behind the man she loves and join a Home for Fallen Girls to care for expectant mothers who fell pregnant outside of marriage. As she witnesses the cruelty inflicted on vulnerable young women, Margaret risks everything to protect the girls.
Thoughts
An easy 5-star read for me. Very educational, powerful, emotional, and shocking. I had never heard of Magdalene Laundries, but I went down the rabbit hole to do more research. I had to double-check the timeframe because I could not believe this was happening in Ireland in the 50s and 60s. I had to pause a few times to fully process what was happening in this story. The main characters demonstrated remarkable resilience and courage as they came together to confront and overcome the horrible treatment these girls endured.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
There are books you read comfortably, and there are books you endure.
Laura Anthony’s *The Forgotten Midwife* is the latter.
It is not a gentle story. It is not meant to be. Rooted in the historical reality of Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries and mother-and-baby homes, this novel enters a place many would prefer to leave sealed. It opens doors that were closed deliberately—by institutions, by families, and by frightened young women who had no safe place to put their grief.
And yet, it is not a book of despair.
It is a book about women who refused to let love die, even when everything around them seemed arranged to extinguish it.
Told in dual timelines, the novel follows Riley Carmichael in present-day America as she uncovers a hidden piece of her family’s past, and Margaret Lannigan, a young Irish woman in the 1950s compelled by family obligation to enter the Sisters of Mercy after her sister’s death. Margaret does not enter religious life through personal calling, but through duty—a generational promise she inherits without consent. She is sent to a home for “fallen girls,” where her instinct for compassion collides with a system structured around shame, silence, and control.
Margaret is not a rebel by nature. She is a young woman who wanted an ordinary life: love, marriage, and children of her own. Her suffering is not chosen heroism. It is an imposed loss.
And yet, in quiet and costly ways, she resists.
She sees the girls not as sinners to be corrected, but as frightened daughters and mothers. She sees their babies as human beings worthy of tenderness. She refuses—not dramatically, but persistently—to surrender her humanity.
This is what makes the novel so difficult to read, and so necessary.
The cruelty depicted here is not theatrical villainy. It is institutional coldness justified by fear—fear of scandal, fear of sin, fear of social collapse. Families surrender their daughters not because they do not love them, but because they believe there is no other way. The Church, which should have been a refuge, becomes an instrument of concealment instead. And the girls themselves absorb the devastating message that their very existence has become a problem to be solved.
It is gut-wrenching.
There were moments when I wanted to stop reading. Moments when the suffering felt unbearable. Moments when anger rose unbidden. And yet I could not look away. I want to put it down and not finish. But I wanted to know what happened more.
Because woven into the darkness is something stronger than cruelty: fidelity.
Margaret’s quiet courage. The fragile bonds between the women. The instinct to protect life, even at great personal cost. These acts do not dismantle the system, but they testify to something deeper than the system ever could: the irreducible dignity of the human person.
For readers of faith—particularly Catholic readers—this book may be especially painful. It is painful to see the Church, which is meant to be the mother, depicted as a source of suffering. It is painful because the historical failures were real. To pretend otherwise would be dishonest.
But Anthony’s novel also reveals something essential: the distinction between faith itself and the human failures carried out in its name.
Margaret’s compassion is not separate from her faith—it flows from it. Her conscience, her reverence for life, her refusal to abandon these women—all emerge from the same moral soil. The tragedy here is not belief, but what happens when fear eclipses mercy, when institutions protect themselves instead of the vulnerable they were meant to serve.
The present-day storyline offers resolution without erasing sorrow, underscoring how deeply these hidden histories continue to shape families generations later.
Laura Anthony writes with restraint and reverence for the truth. She does not sensationalize suffering. She allows it to stand plainly, trusting the reader to bear witness.
This is not an easy book to recommend. It is raw. It is unsettling. It exposes injustice that cannot be undone. And yet, it is profoundly worth reading.
Because it honors the women who endured. Because it tells the truth without surrendering hope. Because it reminds us that even in systems marked by human failure, individual acts of courage and love still shine.
Some books comfort us.
Others break our hearts open.
The Forgotten Midwife does both.
Many thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.
Laura Anthony’s *The Forgotten Midwife* is the latter.
It is not a gentle story. It is not meant to be. Rooted in the historical reality of Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries and mother-and-baby homes, this novel enters a place many would prefer to leave sealed. It opens doors that were closed deliberately—by institutions, by families, and by frightened young women who had no safe place to put their grief.
And yet, it is not a book of despair.
It is a book about women who refused to let love die, even when everything around them seemed arranged to extinguish it.
Told in dual timelines, the novel follows Riley Carmichael in present-day America as she uncovers a hidden piece of her family’s past, and Margaret Lannigan, a young Irish woman in the 1950s compelled by family obligation to enter the Sisters of Mercy after her sister’s death. Margaret does not enter religious life through personal calling, but through duty—a generational promise she inherits without consent. She is sent to a home for “fallen girls,” where her instinct for compassion collides with a system structured around shame, silence, and control.
Margaret is not a rebel by nature. She is a young woman who wanted an ordinary life: love, marriage, and children of her own. Her suffering is not chosen heroism. It is an imposed loss.
And yet, in quiet and costly ways, she resists.
She sees the girls not as sinners to be corrected, but as frightened daughters and mothers. She sees their babies as human beings worthy of tenderness. She refuses—not dramatically, but persistently—to surrender her humanity.
This is what makes the novel so difficult to read, and so necessary.
The cruelty depicted here is not theatrical villainy. It is institutional coldness justified by fear—fear of scandal, fear of sin, fear of social collapse. Families surrender their daughters not because they do not love them, but because they believe there is no other way. The Church, which should have been a refuge, becomes an instrument of concealment instead. And the girls themselves absorb the devastating message that their very existence has become a problem to be solved.
It is gut-wrenching.
There were moments when I wanted to stop reading. Moments when the suffering felt unbearable. Moments when anger rose unbidden. And yet I could not look away. I want to put it down and not finish. But I wanted to know what happened more.
Because woven into the darkness is something stronger than cruelty: fidelity.
Margaret’s quiet courage. The fragile bonds between the women. The instinct to protect life, even at great personal cost. These acts do not dismantle the system, but they testify to something deeper than the system ever could: the irreducible dignity of the human person.
For readers of faith—particularly Catholic readers—this book may be especially painful. It is painful to see the Church, which is meant to be the mother, depicted as a source of suffering. It is painful because the historical failures were real. To pretend otherwise would be dishonest.
But Anthony’s novel also reveals something essential: the distinction between faith itself and the human failures carried out in its name.
Margaret’s compassion is not separate from her faith—it flows from it. Her conscience, her reverence for life, her refusal to abandon these women—all emerge from the same moral soil. The tragedy here is not belief, but what happens when fear eclipses mercy, when institutions protect themselves instead of the vulnerable they were meant to serve.
The present-day storyline offers resolution without erasing sorrow, underscoring how deeply these hidden histories continue to shape families generations later.
Laura Anthony writes with restraint and reverence for the truth. She does not sensationalize suffering. She allows it to stand plainly, trusting the reader to bear witness.
This is not an easy book to recommend. It is raw. It is unsettling. It exposes injustice that cannot be undone. And yet, it is profoundly worth reading.
Because it honors the women who endured. Because it tells the truth without surrendering hope. Because it reminds us that even in systems marked by human failure, individual acts of courage and love still shine.
Some books comfort us.
Others break our hearts open.
The Forgotten Midwife does both.
Many thanks to NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I didn't know what to expect with this book. I was invited to read it because I read and enjoyed The Lion Women of Tehran, I believe, and since I did love that book, I read the description of this one, and it sounded really interesting. It did not disappoint. I told my sister that I hated this book, but it's one of the best books I've ever read, which was still true by the time I finished it. I cried a lot reading this book, but it was worth the emotional toll because of the connection to the characters.
I used to watch the TV show Long Lost Family with my parents, so I knew about the homes for fallen women and how the young, pregnant girls were forced into "homes" run by nuns to wait until they gave birth and then were forced to give up their babies, usually not even allowed to hold them. Then, they were just let back into the world after almost a year, expected to act like nothing ever happened and to move on. And I know from watching the show that these women never let go of their first babies or their experiences and how painful and emotional the experiences still were for them, even as they (mostly) got married and had other children. So, that part of this book, about a home for fallen women, wasn't surprising to me. It was still emotional to read about, but what was surprising was the treatment of the girls in these homes and what other girls were forced by their parents to do because it was what they wanted despite what their daughters dreamt of and hoped for in their own lives.
The book starts with Riley, a young woman in New Jersey about to get married and sad because both parents have passed, and her only relative, Grammy, has dementia. But when she goes to visit Grammy, she's having a lucid moment and directs Riley to a shoebox in her closet, which contains knitted baby booties and a birth certificate with Riley's mom's birthday on it but a completely different name. Riley and her fiancé, Sam, go to Ireland to find out what's going on. The story is mostly from a different perspective, though. It takes place in Ireland, from Margaret's point of view, and Margaret suffers a loss before she is forced by her parents into a closed convent.
What I love most about this book is the growth in the characters and their relationships. Riley is pretty static, but again, we don't really get her perspective a lot. She has a good arc over her few chapters, but Margaret's story is very well-developed, taking place over years, and going into detail about her family, her love life, her experiences in the convent and the home for fallen women, along with the people she meets and the changes she makes in and outside of herself.
What made this story even better and worse is the Author's Note, in which Anthony explains what inspired the story and what she learned in her research. It astounds me that she says she withheld some of the worst stories she encountered because the events in the book are horrific enough. One aspect of the story, though, that's positive is one I'm happy to hear was based on a true story. It lifts my heart with joy and hope.
Overall, I strongly recommend this novel. It's not easy to read, and it will likely make you angry and sad, but it's worth it to meet these characters and see how their story plays out. If you enjoy realistic books about human rights and the power of the soul to overcome, you will enjoy this book.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this copy for a review.
I used to watch the TV show Long Lost Family with my parents, so I knew about the homes for fallen women and how the young, pregnant girls were forced into "homes" run by nuns to wait until they gave birth and then were forced to give up their babies, usually not even allowed to hold them. Then, they were just let back into the world after almost a year, expected to act like nothing ever happened and to move on. And I know from watching the show that these women never let go of their first babies or their experiences and how painful and emotional the experiences still were for them, even as they (mostly) got married and had other children. So, that part of this book, about a home for fallen women, wasn't surprising to me. It was still emotional to read about, but what was surprising was the treatment of the girls in these homes and what other girls were forced by their parents to do because it was what they wanted despite what their daughters dreamt of and hoped for in their own lives.
The book starts with Riley, a young woman in New Jersey about to get married and sad because both parents have passed, and her only relative, Grammy, has dementia. But when she goes to visit Grammy, she's having a lucid moment and directs Riley to a shoebox in her closet, which contains knitted baby booties and a birth certificate with Riley's mom's birthday on it but a completely different name. Riley and her fiancé, Sam, go to Ireland to find out what's going on. The story is mostly from a different perspective, though. It takes place in Ireland, from Margaret's point of view, and Margaret suffers a loss before she is forced by her parents into a closed convent.
What I love most about this book is the growth in the characters and their relationships. Riley is pretty static, but again, we don't really get her perspective a lot. She has a good arc over her few chapters, but Margaret's story is very well-developed, taking place over years, and going into detail about her family, her love life, her experiences in the convent and the home for fallen women, along with the people she meets and the changes she makes in and outside of herself.
What made this story even better and worse is the Author's Note, in which Anthony explains what inspired the story and what she learned in her research. It astounds me that she says she withheld some of the worst stories she encountered because the events in the book are horrific enough. One aspect of the story, though, that's positive is one I'm happy to hear was based on a true story. It lifts my heart with joy and hope.
Overall, I strongly recommend this novel. It's not easy to read, and it will likely make you angry and sad, but it's worth it to meet these characters and see how their story plays out. If you enjoy realistic books about human rights and the power of the soul to overcome, you will enjoy this book.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this copy for a review.
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
This beautifully written emotional novel is the second novel by Laura Anthony that I have loved. Her first was The Women on Platform Two. These two novels have put her on automatic buy list and I'm already looking forward to what she writes next.
2023 - Riley's grandmother, Betty, has dementia and on most days she doesn't recognize her granddaughter. Riley had been raised by her grandmother and it's very difficult to deal with her disease. On one of her trips to visit her grandmother, Betty knows who Riley is and gives her a old birth certificate for an unknown baby born in Ireland in the 1950s. Since Riley knew so little about her ancestors, she and her fiancé travel to Ireland to try to find out why Betty had the birth certificate and if there is a connection to Riley.
1954 - Margaret loves life and she loves her boyfriend Joseph and plans to marry him. When her oldest sister dies, she is forced to become a nun because her father had promised the parish priest that his oldest daughter would be dedicated to the church and once the oldest daughter dies, it is Margaret who is forced to replace her. As a nun, she is sent to a home for girls who have gotten pregnant outside of marriage. The church considered this a major sin and the girls are treated terribly. Once their babies are born, the babies are given/sold to couples. The home for girls is a Magdalene Laundry where the girls are forced to work long hours under cruel conditions laundering clothes for local businesses. Margaret is appalled at the treatment that is given to the young pregnant girls and does what she can to help them. However, her hands are tied by the woman who cruelly runs the laundry and the parish priest both of whom feel that the girls should be severely punished for getting pregnant.
Based on true historical events this is an emotional look at the homes where girls were sent to have their babies. I have read other books about the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland and the US and this one is different because it's told from a nun's point of view - an empathetic nun who wanted to help the girls instead of punishing them. I will admit to some tears while I was reading this book but overall it's a story about the strength of woman even in the worst of circumstances.
2023 - Riley's grandmother, Betty, has dementia and on most days she doesn't recognize her granddaughter. Riley had been raised by her grandmother and it's very difficult to deal with her disease. On one of her trips to visit her grandmother, Betty knows who Riley is and gives her a old birth certificate for an unknown baby born in Ireland in the 1950s. Since Riley knew so little about her ancestors, she and her fiancé travel to Ireland to try to find out why Betty had the birth certificate and if there is a connection to Riley.
1954 - Margaret loves life and she loves her boyfriend Joseph and plans to marry him. When her oldest sister dies, she is forced to become a nun because her father had promised the parish priest that his oldest daughter would be dedicated to the church and once the oldest daughter dies, it is Margaret who is forced to replace her. As a nun, she is sent to a home for girls who have gotten pregnant outside of marriage. The church considered this a major sin and the girls are treated terribly. Once their babies are born, the babies are given/sold to couples. The home for girls is a Magdalene Laundry where the girls are forced to work long hours under cruel conditions laundering clothes for local businesses. Margaret is appalled at the treatment that is given to the young pregnant girls and does what she can to help them. However, her hands are tied by the woman who cruelly runs the laundry and the parish priest both of whom feel that the girls should be severely punished for getting pregnant.
Based on true historical events this is an emotional look at the homes where girls were sent to have their babies. I have read other books about the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland and the US and this one is different because it's told from a nun's point of view - an empathetic nun who wanted to help the girls instead of punishing them. I will admit to some tears while I was reading this book but overall it's a story about the strength of woman even in the worst of circumstances.
March 27, 2026
The Forgotten Midwife by Laura Anthony
Publishing by Simon and Schuster Canada and Simon and Schuster on May 12th, 2026
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Forgotten Midwife is exactly the type of book I’m always searching for. This seems to be the Historical Fiction sub-genre that I love best. Ireland has such a long, interesting and troubling history and I love to learn more about it. Reading about power and radical religion suppressing women’s rights is not easy, but I love hearing about the ways women fought back in any way they could and the camaraderie they create in doing so. It’s always so shocking to read the date that laws in Ireland changed in favour for Women’s Rights and how behind they were from North American (and even Northern Ireland!). Laura Anthony does an excellent job of striking the balance of horror and hope, abuse of power and camaraderie.
This is Laura Anthony’s 2nd historical fiction novel and both have been 5 stars from me. I can’t wait to read what she writes next. This was well written and researched and evokes a lot of emotion. It’s a quick and engrossing read. The Author’s Note is also well worth reading.
📖 Margaret spends her days dreaming of her boyfriend Joseph, and her nights sneaking out to go dancing with him, when tragedy strikes her family and her father and their Priest force her to go to a convent and become a nun, stealing away the life she saw for herself. After angering the Priest years later, she is sent to serve across the street at what she believes to be a laundry, but proves to be a sweatshop for fathers to send their unwed and pregnant young daughters, in exchange for their babies adoption.
I’ve read several books that highlight the houses of horrors, or what’s better known as Homes for Unwed Mothers and Babies and this is one I highly recommend along with Looking for Jane, Only the Beautiful, The Christie Affair, Keeper of Lost Children. House of Eve is high up on my tbr in this subgenre as well.
Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada for my copy of The Forgotten Midwife in exchange for an honest review.
Publishing by Simon and Schuster Canada and Simon and Schuster on May 12th, 2026
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Forgotten Midwife is exactly the type of book I’m always searching for. This seems to be the Historical Fiction sub-genre that I love best. Ireland has such a long, interesting and troubling history and I love to learn more about it. Reading about power and radical religion suppressing women’s rights is not easy, but I love hearing about the ways women fought back in any way they could and the camaraderie they create in doing so. It’s always so shocking to read the date that laws in Ireland changed in favour for Women’s Rights and how behind they were from North American (and even Northern Ireland!). Laura Anthony does an excellent job of striking the balance of horror and hope, abuse of power and camaraderie.
This is Laura Anthony’s 2nd historical fiction novel and both have been 5 stars from me. I can’t wait to read what she writes next. This was well written and researched and evokes a lot of emotion. It’s a quick and engrossing read. The Author’s Note is also well worth reading.
📖 Margaret spends her days dreaming of her boyfriend Joseph, and her nights sneaking out to go dancing with him, when tragedy strikes her family and her father and their Priest force her to go to a convent and become a nun, stealing away the life she saw for herself. After angering the Priest years later, she is sent to serve across the street at what she believes to be a laundry, but proves to be a sweatshop for fathers to send their unwed and pregnant young daughters, in exchange for their babies adoption.
I’ve read several books that highlight the houses of horrors, or what’s better known as Homes for Unwed Mothers and Babies and this is one I highly recommend along with Looking for Jane, Only the Beautiful, The Christie Affair, Keeper of Lost Children. House of Eve is high up on my tbr in this subgenre as well.
Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada for my copy of The Forgotten Midwife in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
4.5 ⭐️
After absolutely loving The Women on Platform Two last year, I couldn’t wait to read Laura Anthony’s newest book The Forgotten Midwife. Anthony tells the story in dual timelines; set between 2025 New Jersey and 1950s Ireland.
2025- Riley is planning her wedding to Sam in New Jersey. She adores his big family, but she begins to feel the loss of her own. After losing her parents when she was young, she was raised by her grandmother. Riley’s grandmother Betty is living in a nursing home and slowly losing herself to dementia. In a moment of lucidity Betty shares a memory box with Riley. In the box she finds a birth certificate from 1950s Ireland. After the secrets continue to nag at Riley, she and Sam set off to Ireland in the hopes of finding the answers behind her grandmother’s secrets.
1950s Ireland- After Margaret’s sister dies, Margaret is forced by her father to abandon her dreams of marrying her boyfriend, and instead join the Sisters of Mercy nunnery in her sister’s place. As a punishment for Margaret’s lack of discipline she is forced to work in the Abbey- The Home for Fallen Girls, aka the young girls that find themselves pregnant out of wedlock. What Margaret finds in the home astonishes her. Suddenly Margaret is forced to deliver babies with zero training and find a way to care for the girls, all while witnessing the cruel atrocities that the girls endure daily. When Margaret is reunited with a girl from her past, she must find the strength and courage to risk everything to protect the girls in the home.
This story blew me away. I knew nothing of this time period in regard to women’s rights. From the first chapter I was sucked in, and connected to Margaret’s story; it was highly emotional, and at times deeply upsetting. Anthony has managed to write another beautiful novel that portrays strong women in the face of systemic oppression. Laura Anthony has proven to me that she is an absolute must-read author. Do yourself a favor and pre-order The Forgotten Midwife now!
Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC. All opinions are my own.
After absolutely loving The Women on Platform Two last year, I couldn’t wait to read Laura Anthony’s newest book The Forgotten Midwife. Anthony tells the story in dual timelines; set between 2025 New Jersey and 1950s Ireland.
2025- Riley is planning her wedding to Sam in New Jersey. She adores his big family, but she begins to feel the loss of her own. After losing her parents when she was young, she was raised by her grandmother. Riley’s grandmother Betty is living in a nursing home and slowly losing herself to dementia. In a moment of lucidity Betty shares a memory box with Riley. In the box she finds a birth certificate from 1950s Ireland. After the secrets continue to nag at Riley, she and Sam set off to Ireland in the hopes of finding the answers behind her grandmother’s secrets.
1950s Ireland- After Margaret’s sister dies, Margaret is forced by her father to abandon her dreams of marrying her boyfriend, and instead join the Sisters of Mercy nunnery in her sister’s place. As a punishment for Margaret’s lack of discipline she is forced to work in the Abbey- The Home for Fallen Girls, aka the young girls that find themselves pregnant out of wedlock. What Margaret finds in the home astonishes her. Suddenly Margaret is forced to deliver babies with zero training and find a way to care for the girls, all while witnessing the cruel atrocities that the girls endure daily. When Margaret is reunited with a girl from her past, she must find the strength and courage to risk everything to protect the girls in the home.
This story blew me away. I knew nothing of this time period in regard to women’s rights. From the first chapter I was sucked in, and connected to Margaret’s story; it was highly emotional, and at times deeply upsetting. Anthony has managed to write another beautiful novel that portrays strong women in the face of systemic oppression. Laura Anthony has proven to me that she is an absolute must-read author. Do yourself a favor and pre-order The Forgotten Midwife now!
Thank you to Netgalley for this ARC. All opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
I can't remember the last book that brought tears...
Thank you for my Advanced Copy from a Goodreads Giveaway.
Much of the book I spent wondering what the connection would be between the women in the dual storylines.
The novel begins with Riley, a modern girl engaged and planning a wedding with little family around. Then her grandmother reveals a secret that sets her on a search.
Then you meet Margaret (in 1956 Ireland) who's life plans are quickly disrupted to be kept captive in a closed-convent to become a nun and then be sent to help at a home for unwed pregnant girls.
Most of the book is following Margaret's story. Based on the true history of forcing young pregnant girls into convent run laundries that continued in Ireland until the 90's.
Both the treatment of the young girls being forced into life as nuns and the emotional and physical abuse in the laundry, range from disturbing to absolute horror. But it is true. Look up "Magdalene laundries" when you are done and you'll realize that Laura Anthony probably spared us from the worst of the horrors that went on.
The novel really allows you to feel the emotions of Margaret - fear, sadness, frustration, disgust,... My only critique is that I wish there was a bit more to Riley's story. But, of course, the focus is on the "fallen girls home"; the people that allowed it, the girls, and the ones that risked everything knowing that things had to change. And the author does a fantastic job engaging the reader into the life of a nun, who is much in turmoil, trying to save the girls without the repercussions increasing the abuse.
Be sure to read the Author's Note.
Thank you for my Advanced Copy from a Goodreads Giveaway.
Much of the book I spent wondering what the connection would be between the women in the dual storylines.
The novel begins with Riley, a modern girl engaged and planning a wedding with little family around. Then her grandmother reveals a secret that sets her on a search.
Then you meet Margaret (in 1956 Ireland) who's life plans are quickly disrupted to be kept captive in a closed-convent to become a nun and then be sent to help at a home for unwed pregnant girls.
Most of the book is following Margaret's story. Based on the true history of forcing young pregnant girls into convent run laundries that continued in Ireland until the 90's.
Both the treatment of the young girls being forced into life as nuns and the emotional and physical abuse in the laundry, range from disturbing to absolute horror. But it is true. Look up "Magdalene laundries" when you are done and you'll realize that Laura Anthony probably spared us from the worst of the horrors that went on.
The novel really allows you to feel the emotions of Margaret - fear, sadness, frustration, disgust,... My only critique is that I wish there was a bit more to Riley's story. But, of course, the focus is on the "fallen girls home"; the people that allowed it, the girls, and the ones that risked everything knowing that things had to change. And the author does a fantastic job engaging the reader into the life of a nun, who is much in turmoil, trying to save the girls without the repercussions increasing the abuse.
Be sure to read the Author's Note.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Review of an advanced copy from Net Galley.
I have to first say that I was addicted to this story. My emotions were all over the place. I was enraged and angry at the beginning. I never heard of the Magdalene Laundries before. My parents were born in Northern Ireland so maybe that is why. This story is based on true events where pregnant girls were shipped off to catholic institutions for fallen women. They were treated poorly and made to give up their babies. It is also the story of women who were forced into becoming nuns to the catholic church when they didn’t want that life.
This story follows two time lines. One in the present where we meet Riley whose grandmother has dementia and gives her a birth certificate from Ireland. Riley journey is trying to find out if this birth certificate was her mothers and where she actually comes from. The other timeline starts in the 1950’s where we meet Margaret who is forced into becoming a nun. She was supposed to marry her sweetheart but her father forces her to take her sister’s place when her sister dies. She ends up at the abbey taking care of unwed girls that have fallen pregnant. We see all the horrific and horrible things these girls go through. We see them struggle giving birth and then having their babies taken and sold. Margaret who is appalled by these conditions tries her best to take care of the girls and get them out. It is a story of strength, courage, and survival under horrible conditions and corruption.
This is my second book from this author and I have loved both of them. Her writing just brings out all the emotions.
I have to first say that I was addicted to this story. My emotions were all over the place. I was enraged and angry at the beginning. I never heard of the Magdalene Laundries before. My parents were born in Northern Ireland so maybe that is why. This story is based on true events where pregnant girls were shipped off to catholic institutions for fallen women. They were treated poorly and made to give up their babies. It is also the story of women who were forced into becoming nuns to the catholic church when they didn’t want that life.
This story follows two time lines. One in the present where we meet Riley whose grandmother has dementia and gives her a birth certificate from Ireland. Riley journey is trying to find out if this birth certificate was her mothers and where she actually comes from. The other timeline starts in the 1950’s where we meet Margaret who is forced into becoming a nun. She was supposed to marry her sweetheart but her father forces her to take her sister’s place when her sister dies. She ends up at the abbey taking care of unwed girls that have fallen pregnant. We see all the horrific and horrible things these girls go through. We see them struggle giving birth and then having their babies taken and sold. Margaret who is appalled by these conditions tries her best to take care of the girls and get them out. It is a story of strength, courage, and survival under horrible conditions and corruption.
This is my second book from this author and I have loved both of them. Her writing just brings out all the emotions.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
The Forgotten Midwife is a gut-wrenching read. While it is hard to read, each page - through the character and work of Margaret -is full of hope, resistance, and strength. Margaret has been betrayed by her parents, her priest, and the church, forced to become a nun in 1950s Ireland after her older sister (previously promised to the church) tragically dies. She could have chosen despair - but instead, when presented with the opportunity to become a midwife, she chooses to help the girls sent to the Magdalene Laundry run by her order. Her story is beautiful, and the book explores that in contrast with modern day Riley, an American who recently learns her family has an Irish connection. The interplay of their stories is told slowly, and then all at once.
This is a beautiful book, very hard to read at times, but well worth it. I've read of other mother and baby homes and expected a gentler story. Instead, I learned about the harsh realities of the Magdalene Laundries and the history that the church and state in Ireland waited so long to address. Laura Anthony tells this story with courage and kindness to honor the mothers and babies affected by these "homes." This is the type of story that makes you consider what you would have done when presented with this harsh reality, culture of fear, and small town politics. I am so glad I read this book, and will seek out other books by this author!
Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this eARC. All opinions are my own.
This is a beautiful book, very hard to read at times, but well worth it. I've read of other mother and baby homes and expected a gentler story. Instead, I learned about the harsh realities of the Magdalene Laundries and the history that the church and state in Ireland waited so long to address. Laura Anthony tells this story with courage and kindness to honor the mothers and babies affected by these "homes." This is the type of story that makes you consider what you would have done when presented with this harsh reality, culture of fear, and small town politics. I am so glad I read this book, and will seek out other books by this author!
Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this eARC. All opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
I received this ARC as a GR Giveaway from the publisher. Thank you!!
Warning…. Spoilers included!!!
WOW…. One of three ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ reads for me so far this year.
Present day, Riley’s grandmother has Alzheimer’s. During one of her visits to the nursing home, her grandmother is in a rare lucid state. She gives Riley an old birth certificate for Mary-Kate O’Rourke, born in Ireland. Riley is not able to get any further information from her grandmother, who is her only known living family, and decides to go to Ireland with her fiancé, Sam, to find out who Mary-Kate is and if Riley might still have family living in Ireland.
1954, Tipperary, Ireland:
Margaret loves to read and attend dances with her love, Joseph.
However when her older sister dies Margaret’s life takes a drastic turn. Her older sister was meant to take the veil and become a nun, a tradition for the elder daughter in the Lannigan family.
The same day her beloved older sister is buried Father Michaels shows up at their home and along her father forces Margaret to pack a bag and go with Father Michaels to join the Sisters of Mercy.
Sister Margaret is eventually sent to work at the Balyview Home for Fallen Girls. Here she becomes a midwife to assist the unwed mothers through their births.
She also risks her own life to try to keep the young pregnant girls and women safe, as they are treated very badly by both the Matron and Father Michaels.
Warning…. Spoilers included!!!
WOW…. One of three ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ reads for me so far this year.
Present day, Riley’s grandmother has Alzheimer’s. During one of her visits to the nursing home, her grandmother is in a rare lucid state. She gives Riley an old birth certificate for Mary-Kate O’Rourke, born in Ireland. Riley is not able to get any further information from her grandmother, who is her only known living family, and decides to go to Ireland with her fiancé, Sam, to find out who Mary-Kate is and if Riley might still have family living in Ireland.
1954, Tipperary, Ireland:
Margaret loves to read and attend dances with her love, Joseph.
However when her older sister dies Margaret’s life takes a drastic turn. Her older sister was meant to take the veil and become a nun, a tradition for the elder daughter in the Lannigan family.
The same day her beloved older sister is buried Father Michaels shows up at their home and along her father forces Margaret to pack a bag and go with Father Michaels to join the Sisters of Mercy.
Sister Margaret is eventually sent to work at the Balyview Home for Fallen Girls. Here she becomes a midwife to assist the unwed mothers through their births.
She also risks her own life to try to keep the young pregnant girls and women safe, as they are treated very badly by both the Matron and Father Michaels.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I've read about the Magdalene Laundries of Ireland in past novels but never with the clarity and description as in The Lost Midwife. The author's notes are a must-read and give credibility to the cruelty directed at the "fallen girls" and the hypocrisy of the Catholic church during this period in history. The Lost Midwife is two stories told approximately 50 years apart and connected. It is not written in alternating dual timelines. The modern day story is introduced at the beginning but the author focusses on the story of the past in a linear fashion. A a reader, you know where you are going to end up but there is pretty much a straight path to get there. Occasionally, the author pops in a chapter in present day, just as a reminder but not as a distraction.
The characters in the laundry/convent tore at my heart and I couldn't put them aside until I got to the end of the book. The story of those young women, those conscripted into the closed order of nuns, and those who became pregnant without husbands, equally impacted me. These are stories that need to be told. Thank you to the published and NetGalley for providing this ARC for my unbiased review. I look forward to publication day.
The characters in the laundry/convent tore at my heart and I couldn't put them aside until I got to the end of the book. The story of those young women, those conscripted into the closed order of nuns, and those who became pregnant without husbands, equally impacted me. These are stories that need to be told. Thank you to the published and NetGalley for providing this ARC for my unbiased review. I look forward to publication day.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
The Forgotten Midwife by Laura Anthony is an intriguing story about the atrocities of the Catholic church in Ireland in the 1950's. The story is set in two settings, the 1950's and current time, and the storyline ties together families stretched across the oceans, in a thought provoking and heartbreaking story. The main figure in the story is Margaret, who lives during the 1950's in a small town in Ireland and aspires to be wed to her long time boyfriend and leave the area for the big city. But tragedy strikes and she ends up in a convent. The historical references as to how she got there and the processes within the Catholic church in Ireland during that time are astounding. As Margaret becomes Sister Margeret, she ends up being transferred to a different convent area, that addresses unwanted pregnancies and how the church "dealt with" girls who found themselves in this situation. The shocking tragedy inside the home for unwed girls was gut wrenching. The humanity of the rescues as the book continued brought hope!
This book is worth every second to read and I literally could not put it down! Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the Advanced review copy. All opinions are my own.
This book is worth every second to read and I literally could not put it down! Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the Advanced review copy. All opinions are my own.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Laura Anthony’s 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 ����𝘪𝘥𝘸𝘪𝘧𝘦 opens in 2020s New Jersey with soon-to-be married Riley Carmichael yearning for family—her fiancé and future in-laws are wonderful, but her own parents and grandfather have passed away and her grandmother is suffering from dementia and living at a nursing home. After her grandmother shares a document and keepsake with her during a rare lucid moment, the book flashes back to the primary storyline. In 1950s Ireland after a family tragedy, Margaret Lannigan is forced to join the Sisters of Penance, and then work at a Fallen Home for Girls. There, she quickly learns to help and protect the young women cast aside by their parents for becoming pregnant outside of marriage.
Based on true events, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘔𝘪𝘥𝘸𝘪𝘧𝘦 shares an important and often difficult look into the Magdalene Laundries of Ireland. Since I was already familiar with that part of history and I wasn’t quite grabbed by the author’s straightforward writing style, I felt like this book wasn’t really for me. But I think this novel will appeal to other historical fiction and women’s fiction lovers who have not heard much about the subject.
3.5 stars. Thank you to Gallery Books for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Based on true events, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘔𝘪𝘥𝘸𝘪𝘧𝘦 shares an important and often difficult look into the Magdalene Laundries of Ireland. Since I was already familiar with that part of history and I wasn’t quite grabbed by the author’s straightforward writing style, I felt like this book wasn’t really for me. But I think this novel will appeal to other historical fiction and women’s fiction lovers who have not heard much about the subject.
3.5 stars. Thank you to Gallery Books for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
If you were a fan of Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez and Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate, this book will absolutely resonate with you. The Forgotten Midwife is a powerful story that will have you heartbroken over the cruelty these women endured while also leaving you with hope as you witness their incredible strength and resilience. While the novel follows a dual timeline, Margaret’s story in the past takes center stage and she is exactly the kind of strong female main character I love reading about. I also appreciated how beautifully everything connects and comes together by the end. Be sure to read the author’s note because it is truly eye opening. This is not a light or feel good story, but it is one that will stay with you and deepen your empathy for the “fallen girls” and the women who were forced into nunnery.
📚 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎:
💚Historical Fiction
🤐Family Secrets
📈Coming of Age
💡Self-Discovery
💕Forbidden Love
💪🏽Women’s Resilience
🫶🏼Found Family
❤️🩹Haunting yet hopeful
🇮🇪Ireland backdrop
🔄Dual Timelines
⚠️ 𝙏𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨: Death, Forced institutionalization.
🤰🏻𝕄𝕐 ℝ𝔸𝕋𝕀ℕ𝔾🤰🏻
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
🙏 Thank you Gallery Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts. 💕
📚 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎:
💚Historical Fiction
🤐Family Secrets
📈Coming of Age
💡Self-Discovery
💕Forbidden Love
💪🏽Women’s Resilience
🫶🏼Found Family
❤️🩹Haunting yet hopeful
🇮🇪Ireland backdrop
🔄Dual Timelines
⚠️ 𝙏𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨: Death, Forced institutionalization.
🤰🏻𝕄𝕐 ℝ𝔸𝕋𝕀ℕ𝔾🤰🏻
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
🙏 Thank you Gallery Books for this ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts. 💕
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
I won this book on a Goodreads giveaway!
Although this is told in dual timelines, it is mainly told from Maggie's view. Maggie is a young Irish girl who is madly in love and hoping to marry her childhood boyfriend, Joseph. When her older sister falls ill and passes away, she is told by her father that she will take her place as a woman given to God for service to become a nun. She is then shipped off to a convent fully expecting to write a letter to Joseph in the hopes he will come rescue her. After a time, she is sent to a nearby building where young women are sent when they are pregnant and unwanted by their families. The matron Mother there is extremely cruel to the young mothers. It is hard to imagine all these girls go through during their stays there. Maggie cares for them and learns how to deliver their babies without any training or medical equipment. The priest that took Maggie from her family is just awful.
This is a very talented author. I look forward to reading more of her work.
The story has a nicely wrapped up ending, and I highly recommend this book when it comes out in the spring of 2026.
Although this is told in dual timelines, it is mainly told from Maggie's view. Maggie is a young Irish girl who is madly in love and hoping to marry her childhood boyfriend, Joseph. When her older sister falls ill and passes away, she is told by her father that she will take her place as a woman given to God for service to become a nun. She is then shipped off to a convent fully expecting to write a letter to Joseph in the hopes he will come rescue her. After a time, she is sent to a nearby building where young women are sent when they are pregnant and unwanted by their families. The matron Mother there is extremely cruel to the young mothers. It is hard to imagine all these girls go through during their stays there. Maggie cares for them and learns how to deliver their babies without any training or medical equipment. The priest that took Maggie from her family is just awful.
This is a very talented author. I look forward to reading more of her work.
The story has a nicely wrapped up ending, and I highly recommend this book when it comes out in the spring of 2026.
March 30, 2026
The Forgotten Midwife is a dual timeline historical fiction novel about Ireland's Mother and Baby homes, often run by convents. In the present-day timeline, Riley is a young woman about to get married, when her grandmother Betty, in a rare moment of lucidity tells hers to take a box from her closet with a small pair of baby booties and a birth certificate for a Mary-Kate O'Rourke, born in the late 1950s in Ireland. The other narrator is Margaret Lannigan, living near Tipperary in Ireland in the late 1950s. When her older sister tragically dies suddenly, Margaret is forced by her father to fulfill the family duty to become a nun with a cloistered order, despite already being engaged to marry a local young man.
This book was inspired by true events, and based on real places, where young women were sent in the mid-century, to work and birth their babies when they became pregnant out of wedlock. The horrors that they endured in this book are accurate, and all the more difficult to read about because as a reader you know that this or worse happened to real people. While the book itself is fairly predictable within the main plot, I still very much enjoyed both Riley and Margaret, and the character growth and development they both showed. The conclusion as well was very satisfying for both Riley and Margaret.
Thank you to Gallery Books and NetGalley for the electronic ARC of this novel for review.
This book was inspired by true events, and based on real places, where young women were sent in the mid-century, to work and birth their babies when they became pregnant out of wedlock. The horrors that they endured in this book are accurate, and all the more difficult to read about because as a reader you know that this or worse happened to real people. While the book itself is fairly predictable within the main plot, I still very much enjoyed both Riley and Margaret, and the character growth and development they both showed. The conclusion as well was very satisfying for both Riley and Margaret.
Thank you to Gallery Books and NetGalley for the electronic ARC of this novel for review.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Wow, what a story! The author did an amazing job telling this sad but true story based on facts of the Magdalene laundries. Her characters become so real in the novel that this reader became emotional involved with them. It’s hard to believe in the twentieth century women were treated so inhumanly for having a baby out of wedlock. What’s harder to believe are all the people involved and the knowledge the public had about the workings of these homes for those pregnant girls. Also, the decisions made by parents for their children’s future careers without even consulting them is hard to conceive. I applaud the author for highlighting for investigating and highlighting this harrowing time. I loved the first book by this author, “The Women on Platform Two” and this was as well! HIGHLY recommend! Not to be missed!
Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for an advanced e-galley of the book. All opinions expressed are truly my own.
#TheForgottenMidwife #LauraAnthony #GalleryBooks
Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for an advanced e-galley of the book. All opinions expressed are truly my own.
#TheForgottenMidwife #LauraAnthony #GalleryBooks
March 21, 2026
A moving work of historical fiction inspired by the Magdalene Laundries in 1950s Ireland. While parts are difficult to read, this is not a story defined by despair, despite the horrifying reality of a culture shaped by shame, compliance, and betrayal under the guise of religion.
Rather, it is a story of loving resistance, conviction, and ultimately family.
The author’s note at the end is essential reading ... deeply insightful and meaningful, adding important context.
The novel is well written, captivating, and sheds light on an important part of history that deserves to be witnessed and remembered.
While it uses a dual timeline, the majority of the story takes place in the past, which I personally preferred. The contemporary storyline mainly serves as a framing device.
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review. Publication date: 5/12. A solid four-star read and highly recommended.
Rather, it is a story of loving resistance, conviction, and ultimately family.
The author’s note at the end is essential reading ... deeply insightful and meaningful, adding important context.
The novel is well written, captivating, and sheds light on an important part of history that deserves to be witnessed and remembered.
While it uses a dual timeline, the majority of the story takes place in the past, which I personally preferred. The contemporary storyline mainly serves as a framing device.
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review. Publication date: 5/12. A solid four-star read and highly recommended.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this advance reader copy in exchange for writing a review.
Hurrah 2026! I’m on a roll.
I’m not crying, you’re crying….was my first thought reading the book. It’s a dual storyline that comes together at the end, definitely a favorite.
Ireland in the 50s was oh, so controlled by the Catholic Church, and this story brings out the worst of it. The faithfulness and fear in the families was palpable. The shocking tragedy inside the laundry was gut wrenching. The humanity of the rescues brought me back to my senses.
I was shocked, saddened, angered (actually so angered in the beginning between “I can’t take another chapter” and “OMG then what happened?”), heart warmed, cheering, nauseated, and could.not.look.away!
I’m going to turn around and ask that my library get a copy and I might even do it for book club.
I loved it! 5*
Hurrah 2026! I’m on a roll.
I’m not crying, you’re crying….was my first thought reading the book. It’s a dual storyline that comes together at the end, definitely a favorite.
Ireland in the 50s was oh, so controlled by the Catholic Church, and this story brings out the worst of it. The faithfulness and fear in the families was palpable. The shocking tragedy inside the laundry was gut wrenching. The humanity of the rescues brought me back to my senses.
I was shocked, saddened, angered (actually so angered in the beginning between “I can’t take another chapter” and “OMG then what happened?”), heart warmed, cheering, nauseated, and could.not.look.away!
I’m going to turn around and ask that my library get a copy and I might even do it for book club.
I loved it! 5*
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the e-arc of The Forgotten Midwife.
In this fictional dual timeline setting, Laura Anthony paints a picture of the reality of so many women especially in the mid 1900's. On the page, this novel writes heavy and raw. Following Margaret throughout her time as a nun and the stories of what her and the other women went through brought tears to my eyes many times. Laura truly has a talent for articulating the innermost thoughts and feelings of these characters.
In amongst this incredible depth was moments of hope and power. These women were fuelled by strength and showed resilience through the cruelty they were shown in their circumstance. Painting an image of family (both blood and non) , especially in the modern timeline, tied positive notes into the tough moments and showed the care that love can have on us.
In this fictional dual timeline setting, Laura Anthony paints a picture of the reality of so many women especially in the mid 1900's. On the page, this novel writes heavy and raw. Following Margaret throughout her time as a nun and the stories of what her and the other women went through brought tears to my eyes many times. Laura truly has a talent for articulating the innermost thoughts and feelings of these characters.
In amongst this incredible depth was moments of hope and power. These women were fuelled by strength and showed resilience through the cruelty they were shown in their circumstance. Painting an image of family (both blood and non) , especially in the modern timeline, tied positive notes into the tough moments and showed the care that love can have on us.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
The Forgotten Midwife is told in a dual timeline of 1950’s Ireland and the current time. It is a heartbreaking story that centers around Margaret. When tragedy strikes her family, she is the one that is forced into the life of a nun in a convent. Eventually, she is sent to another convent that is a home for fallen girls. She is to become the “midwife”,alongside Tee, even though Margaret has never witnessed a birth. The atrocities that happen there are gut wrenching to read about. Margaret does her best to befriend and help the girls.
The story centers around heartbreak, friendship, survival and love. It was a fast paced read for me because I could not put it down. Thank you to NetGalley and Galley books for the e-arc.
The story centers around heartbreak, friendship, survival and love. It was a fast paced read for me because I could not put it down. Thank you to NetGalley and Galley books for the e-arc.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I received a free DRC of this book through Netgalley and the publisher. This book is loosely based on the Magdelene Laundries in 1950s Ireland where countless pregnant single teens and young women were used as free slave labor as punishment for their sins. The cruelty and abuse in this book was really horrifying and more so as their babies were sold to wealthy families in other countries while the money was pocketed by church people. TW: physical and psychological abuse, maternal and baby deaths. Our main character Maggie is a compelling character as she is also forced into being a nun against her will by her parents and priest after her elder sister dies. She does her best to help the pregnant girls and women as much as she is able.
Review of advance copy received from Edelweiss+
This book was amazing and completely drew me in from start to finish. The historical setting is rich and immersive, making it easy to feel transported to the time and place of the story. The main character is strong, compassionate, and brilliantly written, and I loved following her journey. The plot is full of tension, emotion, and meaningful challenges that kept me turning the pages. I also appreciated how the story balances personal struggles with broader societal issues in a thoughtful way. The writing is vivid and heartfelt, making every scene feel alive. Overall, this was a flawless five star read that I absolutely loved.
Review of advance copy received from Goodreads Giveaways
I got this book from the giveaway. This was a really intense read. The topic was extremely informative and I can tell it was well researched. I think it was very detailed, and somewhat distressing to read. I read books in the past on similar topics but nothing like this. Enjoyable would be the wrong word rather more informed. As a woman, it hurts to know and understand the things that went on years ago even if they don't happen anymore. The rights and freedoms we possess now are far beyond of what used to be. I am impressed though of the courage of women who speak out regardless of the circumstances and consequences.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
Wow. The story of the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland is not new material. A place for "fallen girls" to be reformed and have their babies is a brutal story. But the way author, Laura Anthony, writes from the nun, Sister Margaret's, point of view in the fictional Ballyvale Laundry is captivating. Not only were the girls prisoners, but so were some nuns who were forced into the vocation by the vocation of their parents. In The Forgotten Midwife, Sister Margaret "Maggie-pie" is horrified by the conditions of the laundry and what she saw. And yet, she stays in order to do what she can to help.
I could write so much more and spoil the story...so please just read it.
I could write so much more and spoil the story...so please just read it.
March 13, 2026
Laura Anthony absolutely delivers with this one. Switching between past and present, the dual timelines had me hooked until the very end.
Let me tell you, this is not a gentle book. It’s frustrating, heartbreaking, and sometimes even heartwarming. If you’re a fan of Kristin Hannah you’re no stranger to this rollercoaster, so add this to your TBR immediately. It carries that same emotional punch - stories about women, resilience, and the things history chooses to forget. This is the kind of book that stays with you long after the last page.
Needless to say, I will be picking up anything else by Laura Anthony.
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for this eARC!
Let me tell you, this is not a gentle book. It’s frustrating, heartbreaking, and sometimes even heartwarming. If you’re a fan of Kristin Hannah you’re no stranger to this rollercoaster, so add this to your TBR immediately. It carries that same emotional punch - stories about women, resilience, and the things history chooses to forget. This is the kind of book that stays with you long after the last page.
Needless to say, I will be picking up anything else by Laura Anthony.
Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for this eARC!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Wow what a strong and moving story. I am not of the mind to think stories like this didn't happen, because we all know they did. I am so happy to see more stories being written to shine a light on this time and what happen to these women. Both the mothers and the nuns in this case were both held against their will. And we're subjected to horrible conditions and choices. I really believe this is apart of history that we need to talk about and this book does a good job at shining a light on a hard topic in a delicate way.
This story was powerful, sad, heartbreaking and real.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for this arc copy.
This story was powerful, sad, heartbreaking and real.
Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for this arc copy.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
What a powerful story! Maggie has so much heartbreak in her life, but still manages to keep it together. This story is based on true events in Ireland and the way the church treated young girls who were pregnant out of matrimony. Such a sad way to treat children and even the young women who did not want to join the church but were treated like property and forced by their family. I received this book from Net Galley and wished to leave a review.
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