The Mountain Midwife ~ Review

The Mountain Midwife
By Laurie Alice Eakes

Ashley Tolliver is the local midwife, as have generations of Tolliver women.  But she has dreams of taking her skills and training to the next level with medical school.  But if she leaves who will care for those she leaves behind?

Hunter McDermott thought he knew who he was, until he received a message in his voicemail.  An unknown caller claims to be his mother and she needs his help.  Suddenly his life as he knew it is in chaos and he is determined to track down the truth.  But to find out the truth he needs to find the midwife how delivered him over 30 years ago.

But what he finds is Ashley Tolliver a young woman too young to be who he is searching for. Ashley is on her own search - a young woman, in desperate need of medical attention, has disappeared along with her newborn.  Finding this young woman soon is imperative.

But the Appalachians are a dangerous region to venture if you don't know what you are heading into. And neither Ashley nor Hunter fully know just what they are getting themselves into.  And venturing into the unknown can be deadly.

It is interesting to compare this book with Laurie's previous books about midwives and how the occupation changed over the generations and yet didn't change.  There are some many today who are turning to midwives rather than doctors and yet it wasn't that long ago that midwives were the only option.

This is an intriguing book that will be sure to keep you reading and be prepared for some twists that will keep you guessing as to the ultimate outcome.  I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it to anyone in search of a well-written story.

I was provided a copy of this book by the Fiction Guild in exchange for my honest review.


About the Book:

For nearly two hundred years, women in Ashley Tolliver’s family have practiced the art of midwifery in their mountain community. Now she wants to take her skills a step further, but attending medical school means abandoning those women to whom she has dedicated her life, the mountains she loves, and the awakening of her heart.

Ashley Tolliver has tended to the women of her small Appalachian community for years. As their midwife, she thinks she has seen it all. Until a young woman gives birth to a baby at Ashley’s home and is abducted just as she tries to take the dangerously bleeding woman her to the nearest hospital. Now Ashley is on a mission to find the woman and her newborn baby . . . before it’s too late.

Hunter McDermott is on a quest—to track down his birth mother. After receiving more media attention than he could ever want for being in the right place at the right time, he receives a mysterious phone call from a woman claiming to be his mother. Hunter seeks out the aid of the local midwife in the mountain town where the phone call originated—surely she can shed some light on his own family background.

Ashley isn’t prepared for the way Hunter’s entrance into her world affects her heart and her future. He reignites dreams of her own family she has long put aside in favor earning her medical degree and being able to do even more for her community. But is it commitment to her calling or fear of the unknown that keeps her feet firmly planted in the Appalachian soil? Or is it something more—fear of her growing feelings for Hunter—that make her hesitant to explore the world beyond the mountains?