The Midwife’s Revolt takes the reader on a journey to the
founding days of America. It follows one woman’s path, Lizzie Boylston, from
her grieving days of widowhood after Bunker Hill, to her deepening friendship
with Abigail Adams and midwifery, and finally to her dangerous work as a spy
for the Cause. Much has been written about our founding men. But The Midwife’s
Revolt is unique in that it opens a window onto the lives of our founding women
as well.
Review:
The Midwife’s Revolt had such a ring of truth, I forgot it
was fiction and thought Lizzie Boylston truly lived. It was only when I read the author’s
acknowledgments at the end that I realized Lizzie was fictitious. She could well have existed, however, as she and
Abigail Adams (our second First Lady) reflect the efforts of women behind the
scenes during our long struggle for independence from Britain. Lizzie is widowed early in the fighting and
orphaned when her Tory parents’ ship wrecks en route to England. She is fiercely
independent—delivering babies, nursing the sick, maintaining a farm, and finally donning men’s clothing to spy on the
Tories. When someone poisons guests of
her neighbor, she sets out to solve the mystery. I’ll admit, Ms. Daynard even had me stumped
on that one, and that’s not easy to pull off.
Finally,
if you follow this blog, you’ll know that one of my biggest pet peeves is when
historical fiction lapses into modern idiom.
Ms. Daynard passed that litmus test with flying colors. If she’s anything like me, she must have
driven her family crazy while she was writing this book. I’d be willing to bet she slipped into
Colonial idiom in her everyday conversations, forgetting to return to the
twenty-first century when she finished writing each day. Brava, Ms. Daynard! She certainly took me back to the eighteenth century, into the lives, loves and struggles of the women who helped us win the Revolution!
Length: 440 Pages
List Prices:
Paperback:
$18.95
E-Book:
$4.95
Thanks
for visiting. RIW
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