The Reluctant Midwife

A Hope River Novel

By: Patricia Harman

Narrated by: Heather Henderson

The USA Today best-selling author of The Midwife of Hope River returns with a heartfelt sequel, a novel teeming with life and full of humor and warmth, one that celebrates the human spirit.

The Great Depression has hit West Virginia hard. Men are out of work; women struggle to feed hungry children. Luckily Nurse Becky Myers has returned to care for them. While she can handle most situations, Becky is still uneasy helping women deliver their babies. For these mothers-to-be, she relies on an experienced midwife, her dear friend, Patience Murphy.

Though she is happy to be back in Hope River, time and experience have tempered Becky's cheerfulness--as tragedy has destroyed the vibrant spirit of her former employer, Dr. Isaac Blum, who has accompanied her. Patience too has changed. Married and expecting a baby herself, she is relying on Becky to keep the mothers of Hope River safe.

But becoming a midwife and ushering precious new life into the world is not Becky's only challenge. Her skills and courage will be tested when a calamitous forest fire blazes through a Civilian Conservation Corps camp. And she must find a way to bring Isaac back to life and rediscover the hope they both need to go on.

Full of humor and compassion, The Reluctant Midwife is a moving tribute to the power of optimism and love to overcome the most trying circumstances and times and is sure to please fans of the poignant Call the Midwifeseries.

©2015 Patricia Harman (P)2015 HarperCollins Publishers

One of my favorite stories.

This is one of my all-time favorite series. While the first story features Patience Murphy, the midwife, this story features Nurse Becky Myers. If you've listened to the first story, you may remember her from her small role as the home health/public health nurse with the small office in town. The Reluctant Midwife tells Becky's story after she returns to West Virginia after a short time up north, after she left to go work in Dr. Blum's private practice office. She returns with Dr. Blum in tow, now his primary caretaker, after he has suffered a tragic event that has left him disabled. Becky will come to rely on friends and neighbors around her to get back on her feet after losing everything during her time up north.

I love this story because it has a great Depression-era West Virginia setting and the characters are all fantastic. I love the way the New Deal is highlighted through Becky's time working with the CCC. It shows how hard it was for folks to get back on their feet during the Depression and how a community worked best when it was able to lean on the people within it.

This audiobook was well worth the credit that I spent on it and I'll certainly listen to it again in the future. Heather Henderson did a nice job narrating and giving a voice to Nurse Becky Myers.

The reluctant midwife

At first it was not very interesting but the more I listened the more I liked it it was a very good book ver

Great Audiobook

I didn’t want the audiobook to end.
I am downloading her next book now. I will be on the lookout for more of her books. The narrator was fantastic.

Hard to get into at first.

I found the story interesting. I have dealt with children who
We’re selective mutes, but never adults.

Good sequel

I enjoyed listening, though I wish Anne Wittman would have read the second book. Heather Henderson’s voice sounds machine-like.

Janice's Lovely Experience

I really enjoyed this book, it was great to see a continuaton of this story and these people
I p reordered this book and listened to it the day it came out. I will listen to it again. Looking forward to more.

great story

Narrators ha smooth enjoyable voice that helps keep u entranced. excellence story line and suspenseful in wondering what is not being told. poetic writing

A Mixed Bag for Me…

I hardly know where to start with my review of this book. I have so many conflicting feelings about it, I considered leaving no review at all. There were parts I loved and parts I thought were just WEIRD. I would have liked this book a lot more without the very odd singing sprinkled in here and there in strange places (it wasn’t even done particularly well).

The story started out very slowly. It didn’t pick up (in my opinion) until about half way through. I thought it got a lot more interesting when Patience and her husband, Dan (the town veterinarian) were introduced. Then it became MUCH more interesting when Nurse Becky started working at the CCC Camp and the characters at the camp were introduced.

Nurse Becky is now caring for her former employer, Dr. Blum, a man who was once an excellent physician and surgeon, but who is now suffering from Selective Mutism. On top of not uttering a word, Dr. Blum is apparently unable to do anything for himself. Although Nurse Becky is a natural caretaker, she often finds herself feeling frustrated and short-tempered with Dr. Blum. She feels guilty about feeling resentful of Dr. Blum and the complications he brings to life (although no one forced her to take Dr. Blum on as her charge). Becky seems to spend a lot of time complaining about Dr. Blum, his presence, how much work he is, how frustrating it is that he can’t even relieve himself without assistance, about how hard things are during the Depression (I’ll let her slide on complaining about the Depression!) and how degrading it was to have to go out and look for work every day.

The story started getting much better when Nurse Becky and Dr. Blum moved in with Patience and her husband Dan (Dr. Hester).

Some of the midwife calls Patience dragged Nurse Becky on were a bit strange (I could have done without all the sound effects). The case I found extremely strange was the woman who had to dance at a very fast pace (waltz and polka music) through her contractions. REALLY???

One of the things I loved about Dr. Dan Hester, is immediately upon meeting Dr. Blum, he just treated him like he would any other adult, rather than like a child as Nurse Becky often did. Dan would drag Dr. Blum out to the barn and put him to work doing things such as sawing logs with him. Each time Dan included Dr. Blum in “real life” activities, he seemed to come back to himself a tiny bit more.

One thing I did not like about the book were the transitions to when Dr. Blum would think in his head to himself. He would have this whole dialog in his head with himself, but it was very hard to tell WHO was speaking. In several places I had to go back and listen a couple of times to figure out Dr. Blum was in his HEAD talking to HIMSELF, not another character. Having said that, those conversations with himself were quite interesting. Little by little, through those conversations, the listener learns how Dr. Blum came to be selectively mute. I won’t give away why he was, but he was blaming himself for something that had happened and punishing himself for it by completely withdrawing from the entire world. However, when it was vitally important in a couple of instances, Dr. Blum stepped up to the plate and did exactly what was necessary, proving he wasn’t entirely emotionally dead as anyone thought, including Dr. Blum himself.

I did enjoy the last chapter and I am glad I stuck with the book long enough to find out what happened (I do love a happy ending)!

I normally read a book twice if I really enjoyed it. Once was enough for me with this book. Still, after reading the description of Book #4, I am considering purchasing it…. MAYBE.

Wonderful!

Life took me to Alabama but I’ll Always be a WestVirginia girl! I absolutely Loved this book! It has been in my Audible library for years just sitting there ignored over and over until this week when I decided to give it a try. What a delightful surprise! Such a great read/listen.
My parents and family grew up in WV during the same time period as the story but this author brought to life to many similar stories I’ve heard over the years in my own family.
I don’t understand the negative reviews bc I was engaged in the story lines and characters the entire time. It did take a chapter or two (chapters are brief) to get into the story but the characters soon came alive. The story line of Dr. Blum and Becky was so truthful yet heartwarming for me since I was my mothers caregiver for over 10 yrs while she progressed into dementia. I could see this as a movie complete with period appropriate wardrobe, speech, setting, etc. I had my own movie going on in my head the entire book. Narrator did an excellent job. Highly recommend!!

Fantastic look at history and the struggle to surv

Exceeded my expectations, with a good look at family, friends and difficult times of our history. Give it a try