Another visit to historical York- several centuries later

The Midwife's Tale
Sam Thomas
St. Martins Minotaur
January 2013

The Midwife's Tale is a wonderfully well researched historical mystery set in the city of York in 1644. England is embroiled in its' civil war with the Parliament's armies outside the nominally Royalist stronghold of York. However, York is a city divided  between Royalist sympathizers and Parliamentarians, none more so than the city council itself.

The Midwife of the tale is Bridget Hodgson, herself somewhat an anomaly for the time, as she is a twice widowed gentlewoman of independent means. As a licensed Midwife of the City she has a degree of autonomy unusual for a woman of the times. She can go places and ask questions that no other woman would dare in the pursuit of her duties. She is a Protestant and one committed to her faith, but longs for the relative safety and calm of the previous years, when King Charles I was not challenged and beset on all sides.

Bridget becomes embroiled in mystery and politics when her friend, Esther Cooper, is arrested for the poisoning murder of her upstanding Puritan husband. Esther is tried in a travesty of a trial, and condemned. The Royalist Lord Mayor of York, determined to make a point, sentences her based on the little used "petty treason". Esther has killed her "lord and master" and therefore will be burned at the stake and not hanged as is usual. She declares that she is pregnant and Bridget is called in to verify the pregnancy. A pregnant woman cannot be executed until she is delivered, which gives Bridget time to prove that her friend is not guilty. Not much time though, as the Lord Mayor gives her a two day ultimatum. If she does not change her diagnosis he will find another midwife who will. Bridget is aided by her new maidservant, Martha, a woman with decidedly unconventional views and dangerous secrets of her own. The search for the truth takes Bridget and Martha from the lowest alehouses of York to the seats of power and wealth in the city.

Based on an actual historical character of the times, Bridget is a vivid and admirable woman, not perfect but innately generous and kind, with a backbone of steel. The supporting characters are also vividly drawn and come alive on the page. The Midwife's Tale has a decidedly feminist point of view that I greatly appreciated. The life of a woman in those times was hardly worth living, reviled and repressed on all sides by religious authority and societal convention, as has been the case thoughout much of recorded history. The truth of that repression is well told in The Midwife's Tale and 17th century York springs to life in all its' lively squalor. The addition of a well crafted mystery makes for a cracking good read.

The Midwife's Tale is highly recommended for lovers of mystery and historical fiction. It is an outstanding debut novel from Sam Thomas- a writer to watch.

RATING- 4.5 Stars