The Last Midwife - by Sandra Dallas (Paperback)

About the Book

"It is 1880 and Gracy Brookens is the only midwife in a small Colorado mining town where she has delivered hundreds, maybe thousands, of babies in her lifetime. She is a gifted and important resource for the women of her hardscrabble community, a position earned through wisdom and trust. Most women in Swandyke couldn't even imagine getting through their pregancy and labor without Gracy by their sides. But everything changes when a baby is found dead ... and the evidence points to Gracy as the killer. Gracy knows she didn't commit the crime. But her innocence isn't quite that simple, either. She knows things and that's dangerous. Invited into her neighbors' homes during their most intimate times, she can't help what she sees or hears. A woman sometimes says things in the birthing bed, when life and death seem suspended within the same moment. Gracy has always tucked those revelations away, even the confessions that have cast shadows on her heart. With her friends taking sides and a trial looming, Gracy must decide whether it's worth risking everything to prove her innocence. And she knows that her years of discretion may simply demand too high a price now ... especially since she's been keeping more than a few dark secrets of her own"-

Book Synopsis

With Sandra Dallas's incomparable gift for creating a sense of time and place and characters that capture your heart, The Last Midwife tells the story of family, community, and the secrets that can destroy and unite them.

It is 1880 and Gracy Brookens is the only midwife in a small Colorado mining town where she has delivered hundreds, maybe thousands, of babies in her lifetime. The women of Swandyke trust and depend on Gracy, and most couldn't imagine getting through pregnancy and labor without her by their sides.

But everything changes when a baby is found dead...and the evidence points to Gracy as the murderer.

She didn't commit the crime, but clearing her name isn't so easy when her innocence is not quite as simple, either. She knows things, and that's dangerous. Invited into her neighbors' homes during their most intimate and vulnerable times, she can't help what she sees and hears. A woman sometimes says things in the birthing bed, when life and death seem suspended within the same moment. Gracy has always tucked those revelations away, even the confessions that have cast shadows on her heart.

With her friends taking sides and a trial looming, Gracy must decide whether it's worth risking everything to prove her innocence. And she knows that her years of discretion may simply demand too high a price now...especially since she's been keeping more than a few dark secrets of her own.

Review Quotes

Praise for Sandra Dallas

This is a novel that celebrates women: their unbreakable bonds, their unselfish love for their children, their incredible capacity to endure. Like Gracy, the novel may seem delicate but its strength is in the layers. A period piece with a contemporary soul. --Kirkus Reviews on The Last Midwife

"The Last Midwife evokes a powerful sense of time and place." --The Denver Post on The Last Midwife

"With plot, personality and prose melded into a superb whole, The Last Midwife represents a standout effort in popular fiction, one untethered from dismissive adjectives such as "historical" or "crime" and one that resonates in the present day. As she does in all of her fiction, Dallas casts an unwavering but sympathetic eye on the people of her latest novel. And like Gracy, she gives -- and enhances -- life." --Richmond Times-Dispatch on The Last Midwife

"As heartwarming as a homemade quilt." -USA Today on A Quilt for Christmas

"The author's depiction of 19th-century Denver, especially its seedier side, is vividly authentic, while the nascent bond between Mick and Beret will have readers eagerly anticipating their next encounter." --Publisher's Weekly on Fallen Women

"A born storyteller, Dallas excels not only at plot but also at peopling her novels with memorable individuals." --Richmond Times Dispatch on True Sisters

"A tale of family, desire, vengeance and betrayal that more than transcends the ordinary." -RT Book Reviews on The Bride's House

"[Dallas'] sense of time and place is pitch perfect and her affection for her characters infectious." -Kirkus Reviews on Whiter Than Snow

"Putting down a Sandra Dallas novel is nearly impossible." -Daily Camera (Boulder, Colorado) on Prayers for Sale

"An endearing story that depicts small-town eccentricities with affection and adds dazzle with some late-breaking surprises...Dallas hits all the right notes." -Publishers Weekly on The Persian Pickle Club

About the Author

SANDRA DALLAS is the author of more than a dozen novels, including A Quilt for Christmas, Fallen Women, True Sisters, The Bride's House, Whiter Than Snow, Prayers for Sale, Tallgrass, and New Mercies. She is a former Denver bureau chief for BusinessWeek magazine and lives in Denver, Colorado.