num_pages: 385
description: In this breathtaking debut novel, Ami McKay has created an unforgettable portrait of the struggles that women have faced to control their own bodies and to keep the best parts of tradition alive in the world of modern medicine. The Birth House is the story of Dora Rare—the first daughter in five generations of Rares. As apprentice to the outspoken Acadian midwife Miss Babineau, Dora learns to assist the women of an isolated Nova Scotian village through infertility, difficult labors, breech births, unwanted pregnancies, and even unfulfilling sex lives. During the turbulent World War I era, uncertainty and upheaval accompany the arrival of a brash new medical doctor and his promises of progress and fast, painless childbirth. Dora soon finds herself fighting to protect the rights of women as well as the wisdom that has been put into her care. A tale of tradition and science, matriarchy and paternalism, past and future, The Birth House is "a dazzling first novel." ( Library Journal ), and a story more timely than ever.
language: English
title: The Birth House
titlecomplete: The Birth House
characters: Dora Rare, Marie Babineau, Gilbert Thomas
genres: Book Club, Feminism, Womens, Fiction, Novels, Historical Fiction, Adult, Adult Fiction, Historical, Canada
ratings_count: 43273
places: Canada, Nova Scotia
awards: awardedAt: 1577865600000
name: Governor General's Literary Awards / Prix littéraires du Gouverneur général
category: Translation (French-language), awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: Atlantic Independent Booksellers’ Choice Award, awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: Canadian Booksellers Association Libris Award
category: Fiction Book & Book Design, awardedAt: 1167638400000
name: OLA Evergreen Award
publisher: Harper Perennial