A story of family, community, and the secrets that can destroy and unite them.

The Last Midwife by Sandra Dallas

About this book: It is 1880 and Gracy Brookens is the only midwife in a small Colorado mining town where she has delivered hundreds, maybe thousands, of babies in her lifetime. The women of Swandyke trust and depend on Gracy, and most couldn’t imagine getting through pregnancy and labor without her by their sides.

But everything changes when a baby is found dead…and the evidence points to Gracy as the murderer.

She didn’t commit the crime, but clearing her name isn’t so easy when her innocence is not quite as simple, either. She knows things, and that’s dangerous. Invited into her neighbors’ homes during their most intimate and vulnerable times, she can’t help what she sees and hears. A woman sometimes says things in the birthing bed, when life and death seem suspended within the same moment. Gracy has always tucked those revelations away, even the confessions that have cast shadows on her heart.

With her friends taking sides and a trial looming, Gracy must decide whether it’s worth risking everything to prove her innocence. And she knows that her years of discretion may simply demand too high a price now…especially since she’s been keeping more than a few dark secrets of her own.

About the author: Sandra Dallas is the author of fourteen novels, including A Quilt for Christmas and The Persian Pickle Club. She is a former Denver bureau chief for Business Week magazine and lives in Denver, Colorado.

Genre: Fiction/Historical Fiction

If this book were a movie, I would rate it: PG

Why this story matters to me: Because it celebrates the best in women: their gift for relationship, the bonds that unite them, their selfless and sacrificial love for their children, and their amazing capacity to endure.

[Tweet “Celebrating the best in women. The Last Midwife by Sandra Dallas #PioneerFiction”]

My take: I don’t often read pioneer fiction these days, but when I do, I’m reminded me of how tenacious our early-settler ancestors had to be. In contemporary times, it’s easy to lose sight of the faith in God, in themselves, and in each other they had to possess in order to survive. For me, it’s the celebration of these themes, especially as their seen in women, that is the essence of Sandra Dallas’s novels. And the particular, hard beauty of them.

The Last Midwife has all these things, as well as resonant notes of justice, truth, forgiveness, and endurance. Of the value of community, friendship, and loyalty. In Gracy Brookens we find a character who is tough, yet kind, selfless, and forbearing. Every character, in fact, is clearly defined, laid out in Dallas’ trademark clean prose. Though the story gets off to a rather slow start, with more backstory in its early chapters than I prefer, it soon settles into a steady pace that draws the reader relentlessly toward not just one but several surprises at the end.

Speaking of surprises, I’ve learned that despite their unassuming appearances, novels by Sandra Dallas are full of them. Take this one. As you might expect from its title, it contains plenty of interesting details about frontier midwifery in the late 19th century. But the unexpected comes in the form of a murder mystery, which segues into a courtroom drama. Who knew?

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press for providing me a free copy to review. All opinions are mine.

After words: Reading The Last Midwife (or anything by Sandra Dallas) reminds me of a writer I once met at a writers conference. Melissa K. Norris blogs at Return to Simple: Inspiring Your Faith and Pioneer Roots. On her site you’ll find lots of recipes, tips, and good, common-sense advice for living more simply and healthfully–more like our ancestors. Melissa does podcasts too! Check it out, here.

What is your best advice for living simply?