Carol Leonard

Lady's Hands, Lion's Heart is a deeply-felt book. It's funny and sad and engaging, in large part because of its very straightforward and honest narrative voice.

This memoir covers the years 1975 to 1986, beginning with the author's experience giving birth to her only child--not a great experience: "This is when the conflicting emotions begin. I am incredibly high from giving birth, proud that my body is so strong and wise. [...] I feel thwarted that my accomplishment has somehow been show more belittled, that I have been strapped down [...], degraded and humiliated in the most sacred of times." From this moment of joy and anger, Leonard throws herself into women's healthcare and advocacy, starting to volunteer at a clinic and apprentice with a family doctor who assists at homebirths while her own baby is still tiny. The book follows her intertwined professional, romantic, and family lives from there, narrating many birth experiences along the way.

The book could have used more careful editing. The present tense throughout creates some issues of clarity and style. But I sort of got used to it as I went along, and the book's content and voice certainly overcome these details. show less

I was handed this book to read on Friday after I started interning for the New Space for Women's Health in nyc. I read it, completely enraptured, in one fell swoop, and then saw Carol talk at Bluestockings on Saturday. On Sunday, I sit here writing this review. This book is fucking hysterical, heart-wrenching and written with deft clarity. None of that gross fuzz that coats a lot of midwifery/women-fer-women memoirs of that time. It actually inspired me to become a midwife after I swore that show more I'd never catch a baby--although, don't get all hip on yourself, Ms Leonard, I was already gonna be a women's health NP. A seriously good read for anyone interested in the beautiful complexity of life, whether you think you care about midwifery or not. show less

Interesting. Decent research (not stellar), and plausible theories. Parts of this book were too abstract and "fluffy" to constitute any real, applicable knowledge.