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The Birth House by Ami McKay
Published by Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2006
Review #1: Christine Gordon Manley
The world will know and understand me someday. But if that day does not arrive, it does not greatly matter. I shall have opened the way for other women.
-- George Sand, quoted in The Birth House
It is hard to believe that The Birth House is Ami McKay’s debut novel; the work reads as if written by someone who knows exactly what makes a great read. Set in 1900s small-town Nova Scotia, McKay offers more than a history lesson of the community midwife. Through the character of Dora Rare, McKay tells a tale of resilient hope. When a doctor opens a maternity clinic near Scots Bay, traditional medicine, particularly the practices of the midwife, become threatened, scrutinized, and scorned. In a time where women could claim few rights, Dora Rare and the women of Scots Bay learn to fight for the right to own and control the very essence of themselves: their bodies.
 Author Ami McKay. Photo Ian McKay. |
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Through a fantastic blend of compassion and detail that result in strong story-telling abilities, McKay allows the reader to temporarily become one of the women in Scots Bay. I felt their pains, joys, celebrations, and most importantly, their hearts. McKay supports the story of Dora Rare with the inclusion of historical “clippings” – newspaper articles, “recipe” books, letters, and advertisements. Beth Powning (author The Hatbox Letters) describes The Birth House as a “literary scrapbook,” and I can think of no better a description for McKay’s work. Through these extra “tidbits,” the reader becomes even more mesmerized by the plight of childbearing women in the early twentieth century. These historical “scraps” serve as a reminder of what it must have been like for women in small communities as they faced a battle between pleasing their husbands and “medical science” and comforting their hearts, through tradition, trust, and a warm cup of tea. |
Review #2: Tara Judson
The Birthhouse is the kind of book that you like to curl up with and read from
beginning to end with no interruptions. This story is set in the early 1900s in a
small town in Nova Scotia. Dora Rare is a young woman, who under the wing of the
local midwife, grows into a gifted and caring midwife.
This is a story of women sharing, surviving, and striving to make their choices about
life and family in a time when the man made all of the decisions -- even where and
how she would give birth. When you read this story, you will appreciate the challenges
that women of less than 100 years ago had to face on a daily basis. Ami McKay brings
to life real events in history that we have all learned about such as the Halifax
Explosion. She transports you to the time making you feel as if you were really
there. This story made me laugh and cry. It is definitely a book that I will
recommend to others to read.
Visit Ami McKay's website for The Birth House.
Click here to read an interview with the author.
Click here to purchase The Birth House.
Did you read McKay's The Birth House? |
