The Midwife's Daughter

   Once again, I chose this book because of the cover.  I was choosing books for the retirement home, when I saw this cover and knew that I had to read the book.  The young girl on the cover was calling out to me.  I knew that she had a story.
  However, I have been dealing with eye problems- not serious but temporarily troubling.  So it has been difficult to read.  The novel moves back and forth in time and sometimes I got lost because of the little bits that I could read.  Probably I would have enjoyed the novel more if I had been able to read more quickly.
   

   Violet Dimond, an identical twin, has lost a daughter and raised a son, when she discovers a little black child in an orphanage in England.  It was the beginning of the 20th century and Violet was 50 years old.
  She decided to adopt the little girl who was sickly and frail.  Her name was Grace and the novel is the story of her life.
  The small community where they lived was not used to seeing black people and I was surprised at the cruelty of the town people.  I realize it was over a century ago, but they called her 'the Silkhampton Darkie' and 'the two-headed lady'.  Grace got used to the stares and eventually met other people with physical disabilities that she could align with.

author-Patricia Ferguson

   Patricia Ferguson took a 2-year course in nursing at the Royal London Hospital.   She loved the obstetrics part of the training, and also completed a midwifery course.  She made use of those skills when writing this novel because Grace's mother, Violet was a midwife and the author wrote about her work in detail.
  I found the novel somewhat disjointed as the viewpoint changed from Grace to Violet to Violet's twin Bea.  Oh, yes, the novel begins in a hospital with men who had been injured in the war.  Joe Gilder ends up marrying Grace much later in the story.  So, it did move around, and the end was rather mysterious.  Not as satisfying as I had hoped.  But I still love the little girl on the cover.