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  • The Book of the Unnamed Midwife

  • The Road to Nowhere, Book 1
  • By: Meg Elison
  • Narrated by: Angela Dawe
  • Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (208 ratings)
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The Book of the Unnamed Midwife cover art

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife

By: Meg Elison
Narrated by: Angela Dawe
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Summary

Philip K. Dick Award Winner for Distinguished Science Fiction

When she fell asleep, the world was doomed. When she awoke, it was dead.

In the wake of a fever that decimated the earth's population - killing women and children and making childbirth deadly for the mother and infant - the midwife must pick her way through the bones of the world she once knew to find her place in this dangerous new one. Gone are the pillars of civilization. All that remains is power - and the strong who possess it.

A few women like her survived, though they are scarce. Even fewer are safe from the clans of men, who, driven by fear, seek to control those remaining. To preserve her freedom, she dons men's clothing, goes by false names, and avoids as many people as possible. But as the world continues to grapple with its terrible circumstances, she'll discover a role greater than chasing a pale imitation of independence.

After all, if humanity is to be reborn, someone must be its guide.

©2016 Meg Elison. (P)2016 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

What listeners say about The Book of the Unnamed Midwife

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  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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Yessss

Absolutely loved loved loved this listen. This was the best of its kind in such a long time. Wish I was just starting the story I stead of finished!!!

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7 people found this helpful

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Excellent Book

Hi really enjoyed this book very good storyline. Found it very compelling reading loved the main
Character.

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4 people found this helpful

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love a good apocalypse

Great book well written with some interesting concepts. Can't wait to read the sequel now.

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4 people found this helpful

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Amazing!

Recommend this to all sci-if fans. Completely different perspective on apocalyptic genre. Performance is also brilliant.

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4 people found this helpful

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A good read or listen.

Not a gripping read or a thrilling one at that. no zombies, just reality as it may be...
It reads true to how I think things may roll, if this happened in real life. Hence it Kept me hooked for 2 days worth of listening.

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3 people found this helpful

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chilling but brilliant

chilling but brilliant listened to it in less than 24 hours. brilliant book haven't been this engaged in a long time

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3 people found this helpful

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Loved it.

Listened to audio reading in a single day. Beautifully read and performed. A great thought provoking story.

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3 people found this helpful

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Very good

As we are in our own pandemic, this book made me realise how lucky we are. The pore women I this book broke my heart. If your a fan of “The Handmaids Tale” this is a book for you too.

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2 people found this helpful

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Impeccable reading, great story

I had heard nothing about this book and bought it on a whim. Best decision ever. I loved this book. The story line was great and I felt like it was a reality of how this kind of problem would play out. It felt quite close to home what with the new virus that’s out at the moment. The reader was perfect, I will look for more books read by them. So many different voices articulating the characters- it was a great performance. I want more!

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2 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A lot of potential but ultimately fell a bit flat

Hmm, what to say about this one. As a big fan of post-apocalyptic fare, I'm always excited to see stories written by women, about women. There were lots of elements to this that had potential, but it just never seemed to come together as one captivating piece overall. The protagonist (unnamed as the title suggests) is fairly fleshed out in the beginning, but the writing style means I never felt fully connected to her. It jumps really quickly between her journal entries to then a narrator, and it just ends up being a bit jarring. It was also reeeeeally annoying, particularly with the audio version to hear her saying "something equals something equals something" over and over. If I had to hear that one more time I was going to turn it off! It would have been so much more engaging if the journal entries had been written out in proper long-form prose. I don't get why you wouldn't utilise that narrative tool to achieve that. I also groaned a lot at the whole section where she's living in unbliss in the Mormon triangle. To have a queer woman represented in a story like this was initially great, but then to have her queerness more or less erased by having her sleep with some completely lame religious zealot was disappointing and a little bizarre. Of all the things the author could have chosen to have her do in this difficult new world, she has her shack up with the two dullest people left on earth. I mean, why? I would have liked to have spent more time with her in the very last part, at Fort Nowhere. But that felt rushed and a little pointless, and we didn't get much more character development. All in all, I enjoyed parts of this but was basically left disappointed.

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2 people found this helpful