The Birth House by Ami McKay

The Page Turner Book Club will be meeting on Monday, March 16th from 7:00 – 8:30 pm to discuss “The Birth House” by Ami McKay. “The Birth House” is a story of a Nova Scotia midwife and is filled with details as compelling as they are surprising. This is an unforgettable tale of the struggles women have faced to have control of their own bodies and to keep the best parts of tradition alive in the world of modern medicine. Dora Rare is the first girl in five generations born to the Rare family who live in a small Nova Scotia fishing village. In her youth, Dora apprentices to Miss Babineau, an aged Acadian midwife known for her storytelling and herbal acumen. She is also considered something of a witch by those locals most desperate to embrace modernity. The arrival in the village of Dr. Gilbert Thomas, a doctor of obstetrics, sets up the major conflict of the novel as the haughty and presumptuous newcomer quickly denigrates the use of midwives by the local women.