TUESDAY POTPOURRI: INTROS/TEASERS – “THE SECRETS OF MIDWIVES”

 

Welcome to another Tuesday celebrating bookish events, from Tuesday/First Chapter/Intros, hosted by Bibliophile by the Sea; and Teaser Tuesdays hosted by Should Be Reading.

Today my featured book is an ARC called The Secrets of Midwives, by Sally Hepworth.

 

 

 

Intro:  (Neva)

I suppose you could say I was born to be a midwife.  Three generations of women in my family had devoted their lives to bringing babies into the world; the work was in my blood.  But my path wasn’t so obvious as that.  I wasn’t my mother—a basket-weaving hippie who rejoiced in the magic of new, precious life.  I wasn’t my grandmother—wise, no nonsense, with a strong belief in the power of natural birth.  I didn’t even particularly like babies.  No, for me, the decision to become a midwife had nothing to do with babies.  And everything to do with mothers.

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Teaser:  Panic broke out; a swarm of moths over my heart.  I no longer wanted Grace to disappear and take the last two minutes—I wanted her to take my future. (p. 9).

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Three generations of women Secrets in the present and from the pastA captivating tale of life, loss, and love…Neva Bradley, a third-generation midwife, is determined to keep the details surrounding her own pregnancy—including the identity of the baby’s father— hidden from her family and co-workers for as long as possible. Her mother, Grace, finds it impossible to let this secret rest. The more Grace prods, the tighter Neva holds to her story, and the more the lifelong differences between private, quiet Neva and open, gregarious Grace strain their relationship. For Floss, Neva’s grandmother and a retired midwife, Neva’s situation thrusts her back sixty years in time to a secret that eerily mirrors her granddaughter’s—one which, if revealed, will have life-changing consequences for them all. As Neva’s pregnancy progresses and speculation makes it harder and harder to conceal the truth, Floss wonders if hiding her own truth is ultimately more harmful than telling it. Will these women reveal their secrets and deal with the inevitable consequences? Or are some secrets best kept hidden?

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What do you think?  Do the excerpts grab you?  Would you keep reading?

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