The Birth House
Monday, November 6, 2006 at 12:30PM 
The Birth House by Ami McKay is a spellbinding novel of a young girl who becomes a traditional midwife in rural Nova Scotia in the early 1900's. Through the story Dora Rare grows in maturity, experience, and commitment to support women with their fertility, pregnancies, and homebirths.
Meanwhile, the community struggles with the loss of their young men to the war. Dora also has a cultural battle on the women's health front, as a new obstetrician moves to the area campaigning to eliminate midwives and deliver all babies with anesthesia and forceps. Her teacher, herself, and the other loyal homebirthing women must defend their right to birth where and with whom they want to.
I absolutely loved this book, and whipped through it in two days barely putting it down. Who needs sleep when you have a great novel to read? My family immigrated from Canada two generations ago, so I personally found it wonderful to read stories that reminded me of my paternal grandmother who grew up Newfoundland, and my maternal great-grandmother who was a traditional midwife in Quebec in the late 1800's. As a historical Canadian novel, The Birth House ousted The Da Vinci Code from the #1 spot of the bestseller list in Canada!
As a homebirth advocate, I am thrilled to read a novel that honors the sanctity of birth and portrays a conceited and ignorant obstetrician as the antagonist. In addition to homebirth midwifery, women's issues are woven throughout the story illuminating the struggles of that era, including women's suffrage, arranged marriages, the diagnosis of hysteria (for any women who didn't behave in a way considered proper), and the origin of vibrators to treat hysteria. The novel is written as a "literary scrapbook" interspersing the story with journal entries by Dora Rare, and old advertisements and newspaper articles about the war, women's health, and social events.
Ami McKay has an informative website for The Birth House, with a recipe for groaning cake, which in the novel, the birthing women and her attendants would make during labor. There is also a hysteria quiz to find out how many treatments you may require. Check it out and read this fabulous book!!!
Reader Comments