As a child, Maggie is the sole survivor after a murderous rampage on the village in Scotland where she lived with her family. She is found by Hannah, a medicine woman who more or less adopts her and makes her an apprentice. Hannah teaches Maggie all that she can, but when Hannah dies, Maggie is left on her own. She eventually agrees to be a bondservant for four years in exchange for passage to the New World. After her grueling boat ride across the Atlantic, Maggie lucks up when it comes time for her to be purchased. Because of her healing skills, Seth Martin buys her to tend to his family which includes three children and his ailing pregnant wife Naomi. He takes Maggie to his homestead, which is apparently around the area of Kentucky (Kenta-kee). And that's when the real trouble and heartache begins.

The book does have romance and adventure, but too much of the latter and not enough of the former, for my taste. And the adventures were quite graphic and somewhat depressing (scalpings, stabbings, shootings, etc.). I know things like that really happened in the frontier of the young America, I just don't like reading about them in such a stark light.

I really wanted to like this book, and I truly thought I would. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it. I guess I was expecting something different than what it delivered. I kept flipping to the back, counting the pages left before the end. It was well written and interesting enough, I suppose, yet because I had pictured something else when I read the book's description, that is what I wanted to read about. So I cannot fault the author for not reading my mind before she wrote her book! I would have simply preferred more of a straightforward story with more romance and less violence.

However, my lowish rating of this book will not stop me from reading "The Tory Widow" by the same author. I think that one will be more my style. ( )

I was not overly thrilled by this story. The main character was hard to become acquainted with, since for the first several chapters, she seems more of a stranger. She does become more developed later in the tale, but by that time, there's so much going on and so many other characters to focus on that it's hard to really think of her as 'the' main character, even though the way it's written makes that pretty clear.

Some of the characterizations were fairly shallow, but many were good and interesting which did add to the ease of reading. It was very descriptive as well, which largely added to the experience, but the description did not stop at anything gory or unpleasant, so for the weak of stomach - be aware.

By the end of the story, I was starting to feel attached to many of the characters, only to have it end rather abruptly. Even the epilogue didn't tie up the loose ends. I think that would be my biggest complaint about the story - that so many elements of the story were left uncompleted.
Overall, I felt this book was average, maybe slightly above-. It wasn't one that I felt would be an absolute necessity to read again - just average. ( )

Orphaned on the fields of Culloden, Maggie treks to America to try and make a living as a midwife. Sold as a bondswoman to a frontier family in Virginia, she falls in love with a hunter, Tom. Their story is one of constant upheaval due to warring Indian tribes and interfering British bureaucracy.

I borrowed this book from a friend and while I didn't set out looking for a book comparable to the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, I couldn't help making comparisons due to the Scottish language woven into the story, which is set at approximately the same time. Gabaldon fans will find that this story doesn't hold a candle. I found the characters hard to sympathize with and the text is thick with analogies that weigh it down too much at times. The various climactic points wrapped up a bit too neatly for my tastes. I give this historical fiction novel a 2.5 out of 5. ( )

For a first novel Christine Blevins absolutely blew me away! While reading this journey of a Scottish midwife through indentured servitude in the Appalacians I was extremely emotional about what happened to her. This book would make a great movie adaptation. It does leave you wondering in the end what happened to some of the characters, though. ( )

Maggie Duncan lost her family as a very young girl during a massacre between the British and the Scottish. Her destiny falls into place when she helps a injured man find his way home to his wife, Hannah. Hannah, a midwife and local healer, realizes almost instantly that her husband’s gangrene will end his life. Childless, she sees Maggie’s arrival as the blessing to bloom from her husband’s death. She takes Maggie under her wings and teaches her healing and midwifery. Unfortunately, the little Scottish town in which they live is superstitious. They think that Maggie is bad luck given what happened to her parents. They believe she possesses the powers of the evil eye. When Hannah gets sick with consumption, she gives Maggie one last gift before she dies - she plants the seed about going to the America. After Hannah’s death, Maggie is living hand to mouth. When she’s offered the opportunity to sale to America at the cost of spending four years as an indentured servant, Hannah’s words come back to her and she travels to find her destiny in the New World.

The Midwife of the Blue Ridge is an engaging novel about the joys, struggles, and courage of those who took the risk of leaving their home land in order to make their own way in Virginia. From the very beginning, America was seen as a land of opportunity to those whose futures in their home countries was set from the moment of their conception. It says a great deal that people would knowingly agree to four years of indentured service under unknown masters in order to have a shot at creating their own fortunes and secure their own land. Christine Blevins brings this all to life through Maggie, Seth XXXXXXXX and Tom Roberts. Just as vividly, Blevins writes of those who were forced to go to the New World by their privileged and wealthy families found them to be an embarrassment best kept an ocean away. Their resentment over their circumstances colored their view of this new land and how they treated other people. In the Colonial Virginia painted in this novel, it is a toss up as to who was more savage, the Shawnee warriors or the disgraced lords of England.

Maggie Duncan is one of the most delightful heroines I’ve encountered in a long time. Although her accent was difficult for me to catch on to at first, I was soon caught up in the story of this clever, sassy, and giving young woman. The very scrappiness that was viewed suspiciously by her Scottish kinsmen was what kept her safe and gave her the advantage she needed to get off to a good start as Seth’s servant. She endeared herself to Seth, Naomi and their children by her generous spirit and her strong work ethic. Her sarcastic spunkiness endeared her to almost every single man she encountered. I admired her optimistic yet pragmatic attitude toward life and the courage she displayed under the most stressful conditions found in the Virginia wilderness. I enjoyed every minute I spent with her and hope that my daughters growing up in the Blue Ridge of Virginia four centuries later will develop her same strength of character.

Over the past couple of years I’ve read a great deal of wonderful historical fiction. For the most part, I’ve shied away from historical fiction set in my own country. I have read The Winthrop Woman and Devil Water by Anya Seton and, while they were both novels I enjoyed, they did not ignite in me the same excitement for my country’s history that Midwife of the Blue Ridge has. Colonial America, just like Tudor England and Venice has its own charms and dangers to explore. After reading Blevins’ novel, I am looking forward to spending some more time at home.

http://literatehousewife.wordpress.co... ( )