To me this book is so great because it shows competent, powerful, self-assured women making a place in a patriarchy. These are the women that gave us the rights we enjoy today. I loved the herbal concoctions she used in healing. I loved her spirit against condescending men. I loved the way her husband loved her. In my eyes it's a great book
I guessed the murder mystery resolution pretty early on and felt the clues were there. The motives for the rapes I really just didn’t care, but you’re right it was explained early enough or well. I also thought the book felt too modern and not like a historical novel.
Ooo, I'm shocked! I loved this one; one of my favorite reads of the year. But great to hear your opinion! I agree with your critiques of the villain and her son as characters. I wish the book was a bit longer to unpack those backgrounds more.
Haha. Yes, I know I'm in the minority on this one. So many people have loved this book! I guess I just like to have an "aha" moment and say to myself, "I should have known! All the clues were there!" Yes, I agree if it was about 20% longer it probably would have been perfect.
Several in my book club have read this and I see it metioned often in recommended book lists. I just got my copy from the library today (12-20-24) and will read it before I come back to see your review. See you soon!
I 100% agree with you on all those points. I gave it 3 stars because I liked her prose though. But yeah, the characters and attitude seemed modern. Even some of the birth details didnt seem believable as I birthed my two with midwives.
I just finished yesterday. I enjoyed it, specially the parts about Martha's work as a midwife. The minister's wife labour procedure got me squirming so bad ( brought back memories). But I agree with the points you raised. The mystery aspect failed to explore the motivations further. Things were happening outside of the book and we were just informed later. And I agree that the husband was not human, definitely not part of this world. Maybe a bit of Sci-fi there 😂
Great review! This book got chosen for my book club and while admittedly I don’t feel like I was at all the target audience that this book is intended for, I just thought I’d get more enjoyment out of it as a whole. The Murder mystery premise is what really caught my attention and while elements of it were scattered throughout, it was far from what I expected. On top of that I had issues with a lot of specific characters motivations and personalities. I would never bash anyone who says they enjoyed this book but it fell flat for me sadly.
I'm late to this video, but I would like to add my voice. We did this book in my book club, and I had the same concerns as you, but the rest of the group thought it was great. The voices were way too modern, especially Martha's. You're so right - this was Puritan New England. They had a very strict view of sex before marriage or outside of one's marriage - Hester Prynne (The Scarlet Letter) anyone? Their punishments were severe, and they had their reasons and philosophies. So instead of studying these and putting them in her book, she took the easy way out and put it in modern sensibilities. The characters were one-dimensional, and while the midwifery part was interesting, it wasn't entirely accurate either. If she helped in 1,000 births and never lost a mother, she had to have some knowledge of cleanliness counts. Did she melt snow and boil the water? Did she wash her hands or not do internal exams? There were too few explanations here for it to be a great book for me.
I loved this story. I guess I do t see it like you do. The reason for the”bad guys” involvement was the same as most men involved in that type of crime. The reason for the involvement of the wrongly accused was obvious. As far as the son , I’m not sure family conflict always has valid reasons. I honestly rate this book right up at the top of my favorites so far this year. I couldn’t put it down!
Pointing out things other readers might enjoy is a great way to review a book that you didn't rate very high. Adding modern sensibilities to historical fiction kinda takes you out of the moment.
To me this book is so great because it shows competent, powerful, self-assured women making a place in a patriarchy. These are the women that gave us the rights we enjoy today. I loved the herbal concoctions she used in healing. I loved her spirit against condescending men. I loved the way her husband loved her. In my eyes it's a great book
I guessed the murder mystery resolution pretty early on and felt the clues were there. The motives for the rapes I really just didn’t care, but you’re right it was explained early enough or well. I also thought the book felt too modern and not like a historical novel.
Yes, I agree it didn't feel like a historical novel. The thinking of each character was way too modern. It felt forced and not real to me.
Ooo, I'm shocked! I loved this one; one of my favorite reads of the year. But great to hear your opinion! I agree with your critiques of the villain and her son as characters. I wish the book was a bit longer to unpack those backgrounds more.
Haha. Yes, I know I'm in the minority on this one. So many people have loved this book! I guess I just like to have an "aha" moment and say to myself, "I should have known! All the clues were there!" Yes, I agree if it was about 20% longer it probably would have been perfect.
Several in my book club have read this and I see it metioned often in recommended book lists. I just got my copy from the library today (12-20-24) and will read it before I come back to see your review. See you soon!
I'm curious what you think!
I 100% agree with you on all those points. I gave it 3 stars because I liked her prose though. But yeah, the characters and attitude seemed modern. Even some of the birth details didnt seem believable as I birthed my two with midwives.
Yeah, I was wondering about the birthing details too. I didn't use a midwife so I had no reference :) But I agree the prose was well-written.
I just finished yesterday. I enjoyed it, specially the parts about Martha's work as a midwife. The minister's wife labour procedure got me squirming so bad ( brought back memories). But I agree with the points you raised. The mystery aspect failed to explore the motivations further. Things were happening outside of the book and we were just informed later. And I agree that the husband was not human, definitely not part of this world. Maybe a bit of Sci-fi there 😂
Haha. Yeah, the husband part was probably a bit of a genre-bending sci-fi mixed in there 🤣🤣
Great review! This book got chosen for my book club and while admittedly I don’t feel like I was at all the target audience that this book is intended for, I just thought I’d get more enjoyment out of it as a whole. The Murder mystery premise is what really caught my attention and while elements of it were scattered throughout, it was far from what I expected. On top of that I had issues with a lot of specific characters motivations and personalities. I would never bash anyone who says they enjoyed this book but it fell flat for me sadly.
I struggled trying to get through this book. I had to force myself to keep going.
I'm late to this video, but I would like to add my voice. We did this book in my book club, and I had the same concerns as you, but the rest of the group thought it was great. The voices were way too modern, especially Martha's. You're so right - this was Puritan New England. They had a very strict view of sex before marriage or outside of one's marriage - Hester Prynne (The Scarlet Letter) anyone? Their punishments were severe, and they had their reasons and philosophies. So instead of studying these and putting them in her book, she took the easy way out and put it in modern sensibilities. The characters were one-dimensional, and while the midwifery part was interesting, it wasn't entirely accurate either. If she helped in 1,000 births and never lost a mother, she had to have some knowledge of cleanliness counts. Did she melt snow and boil the water? Did she wash her hands or not do internal exams? There were too few explanations here for it to be a great book for me.
Yeah, you hit the nail on the head. Agree with you completely. The book seemed poorly researched to me and not accurate for the time period.
I loved this story. I guess I do t see it like you do. The reason for the”bad guys” involvement was the same as most men involved in that type of crime. The reason for the involvement of the wrongly accused was obvious. As far as the son , I’m not sure family conflict always has valid reasons. I honestly rate this book right up at the top of my favorites so far this year. I couldn’t put it down!
Pointing out things other readers might enjoy is a great way to review a book that you didn't rate very high. Adding modern sensibilities to historical fiction kinda takes you out of the moment.
Yes, I definitely think there are a lot of people who will love this book. It just wasn't for me :)
I loved it, but I think your criticism is fair.
Yes, I definitely think it was a good book, but it just wasn't the book for me.
One of the best books I read all year
I'm glad you liked it!
I enjoyed this book.
This was my BOTM choice, I'm hoping I enjoy it. Good review though.
I hope you enjoy it too! I know I'm in the minority with this one :)
Overall I didn't care much for this one either.
Yeah, it was not my fave. I can see why it's popular, though. Just not for me.
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