The Birth House (2006)

I really loved this book. It takes place in a small, isolated village in Nova Scotia at the beginning of the 1900s. It's a time when life is hard, and folk traditions are passed down from generation to generation. Dora Rare is a young girl, who becomes the local midwife's apprentice. Life is about to change, though, when *modern medicine* arrives in the form of the pompous Dr. Gilbert Thomas. This story follows Dora's struggle to protect the birthing traditions and women's wisdom she has learned. It is also the story of her emergence as a strong independent woman at a time in history when that was not an easy thing to be.

Not to give too much away, I will just say that this book is sprinkled with all kinds of fascinating history (based on true events), as well as folk wisdom, humour, and surprising (and sometimes horrifying and astonishing) *cures* for all manner of woes of the day. Author Ami McKay's website offers up tons of other great tidbits, a quiz and recipes to enhance the experience of having read the book. There is also an author interview on the site, that explains how she came to write this book. Apparently, when she and her husband moved into their house in Nova Scotia, she discovered that it was once an actual birth house. You'll have to read the interview to find out more. I highly recommend this book (and the website!).

http://www.amimckay.com/books/the-birth-house/ ( )

1 of 21 books for $10. 2/10/12

I found it interesting to read the other reviews of this book that, by and large, view the battle between obstetrics and midwifery as something from the past (or as a device to illustrate a science vs religion point). After Midwives by Chris Bohjalian, I found it very refreshing to see a fictional portrayal of the ongoing schism between obstetrics and midwifery as I also view it: as a battle between the rights of women and a male-dominated profession telling women what they should do. Only a tiny bit of research shows just how historically accurate McKay's book is (for example, in small communities in the early 20th century, the maternal and infant mortality rates skyrocketed when an obstetric "maternity home" was introduced. The mortality rates only started to decline when antibiotics were invented, and for some reason, people translate this to mean that the obstetrical model of care in childbirth is safer than the midwifery model, despite the fact that even studies done in the past decade show that homebirth is actually safer than giving birth in the hospital (check out The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth by Henci Goer for references). OK, off my soapbox).

I do agree with other reviewers that at times the story is disjointed because of McKay's style. To get a great deal of information into a small number of pages and keep the story moving, she uses diary entries, letters, news clippings, and advertisements. I admire the ingenuity behind using this scrapbook style, I just found it a little disorienting. ( )

This 2007 debut novel by Canadian author Ami McKay (well, Canada claims her since she lives here now) is set in Nova Scotia on the shore of the Bay of Fundy, the bulk of the story taking place in the years 1916-1919.

The protagonist, Dora Rare, is befriended and mentored by the community’s midwife/herbalist. Over the course of her life, Dora’s home becomes the birth house – or the place where the women of the community go to have their babies, rather than making the sometimes dangerous trip into the nearest town where ‘modern’ male medicine suits their needs rather less.

The 'Birth House' has been described as “an unforgettable tale of the struggles women have faced to control their own bodies and keep the best parts of tradition alive in the world of modern medicine.” While I’m all for that, the rabid superstition and novena cures of the training midwife detracted from the strength of the women’s positions, in my opinion.

Read this if: women’s issues are important to you and you want to know something of their evolution in rural North America; or you want an authentic picture of WWI era Nova Scotia (the description of the aftermath of the Halifax Explosion is particularly moving). 3½ stars ( )

http://www.monniblog.com/2011/01/the-birth-house-by-ami-mckay/ ( )