In Amesbury, Massachusetts, Quaker midwife Rose Carroll has the unenviable task of attending to a dying mother of five, Charity Skells, and conveying the sad news to her family. In the Year of Our Lord 1889, poverty, hard work, and large families directly cause the deaths of many women. But CHARITY\'S BURDEN may have been even heavier. Her last words spoke of some money and regrets.
Rose is unwed herself but engaged, and extremely practical. Her keen observations have aided the police to secure some murderers. In this matter, she suspects all is not normal and reports to the police. The widower Ransom Skell was working in a boatyard after his other job ended. Now he has five children to look after, in the depths of winter, and his comfortably off Quaker in-laws don\'t like him much. Clearly, he doesn\'t have many motives for murder, so Rose, driving her horse Peaches and buggy around town, tries to find out what money or people could have been involved in Charity\'s life.
This book is strong on historical details and attitudes, and it won\'t be an easy read for everyone due to the, sometimes distressing, subject matter. If a reader is interested in women\'s issues and general domestic environments through history, this will be a fascinating read, full of careful research and deep thought by author Edith Maxwell. The midwife was a central figure in the villages of old, and in industrial towns, midwifery was essential for women\'s health. Many books left out this figure as they were written by gentlemen, or by ladies too well-mannered to mention pregnancy in mixed company. Really, I think it is only in modern times that such a heroine of a mystery novel could exist.
We also learn a little of the Quaker way of life, which preaches calm and tolerance, yet repudiates a member who weds someone outside the church. A wedding is planned within the faith, and while it\'s to be a special day, no fineries are permitted. Rose doesn\'t know how long she\'ll need to wait until she and her fiance David have cleared the permissions required to marry in turn. CHARITY\'S BURDEN is a very interesting historical mystery for those who want to know more about its subjects.
Quaker midwife Rose Carroll seeks the true cause of a young mother's death in turn-of-the-century Massachusetts.
The winter of 1889 is harsh in Amesbury, Massachusetts, but it doesn't stop Quaker midwife Rose Carroll from making the rounds to her pregnant and postpartum mothers. When Charity Skells dies from an apparent early miscarriage, Rose wonders about the symptoms that don't match the stated cause of death. She learns that Charity's husband may be up to no good with a young woman whose mother appears to offer prohibited medical procedures. A disgraced physician in town does the same, while Charity's cousin seems to have a nefarious agenda of his own. With several suspects emerging, each with their own possible motives, Rose and police detective Kevin Donovan race against time to solve the case before another innocent life is lost.
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