The Midwife's Tale cover art

The Midwife's Tale

A Mystery

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The Midwife's Tale

By: Sam Thomas
Narrated by: Leila Birch
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About this listen

In the tradition of Arianna Franklin and C. J. Sansom comes Samuel Thomas’s remarkable debut, The Midwife’s Tale.

It is 1644, and Parliament’s armies have risen against the King and laid siege to the city of York. Even as the city suffers at the rebels’ hands, midwife Bridget Hodgson becomes embroiled in a different sort of rebellion. One of Bridget’s friends, Esther Cooper, has been convicted of murdering her husband and sentenced to be burnt alive. Convinced that her friend is innocent, Bridget sets out to find the real killer.

Bridget joins forces with Martha Hawkins, a servant who’s far more skilled with a knife than any respectable woman ought to be. To save Esther from the stake, they must dodge rebel artillery, confront a murderous figure from Martha’s past, and capture a brutal killer who will stop at nothing to cover his tracks. The investigation takes Bridget and Martha from the homes of the city’s most powerful families to the alleyways of its poorest neighborhoods. As they delve into the life of Esther’s murdered husband, they discover that his ostentatious Puritanism hid a deeply sinister secret life, and that far too often tyranny and treason go hand in hand.

©2012 Samuel Thomas (P)2013 Audible, Inc. Historical Mystery Women Sleuths Scary
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Most relevant
I quite enjoyed the story but the narration jarred in placed. There were places where the subject of the sentence was referred to by the wrong pronoun and lots of odd Americanisms- normalcy?! Even English words were mangled and I'm pretty sure the Marquis of Newcastle would be peeved to find out he was actually a large tent.

Curious quirks of narration

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What disappointed you about The Midwife's Tale?

The audio performance - it didn't seem to be an actor, but a teacher, talking down to children and as for the attempt at male voices... No. Just No. Where was the director? Why didn't somebody guide the poor person into a better performance.

Has The Midwife's Tale put you off other books in this genre?

No

Would you be willing to try another one of Leila Birch’s performances?

No

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Midwife's Tale?

Only managed a few mins so can't say.

Audio performance seemingly aimed at children.

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