Roberta Rich whisks her readers away to sixteenth-century
Venice in her bestselling novel, THE MIDWIFE OF VENICE.
Hannah Levi is a skilled midwife with a well earned
reputation of safely delivering children under the most
dangerous conditions. When Hannah is urgently contacted by a
nobleman to help deliver a child, she must decide between
helping a mother who lingers between life and death and
respecting the laws which forbid Jews from attending a
Christian birth. Although Hannah knows helping a Christian
woman could put her life in danger, the Contessa's husband
offers Hannah the one chance to save her husband who has
been enslaved on the Island of Malta.
Hannah realizes helping the Conte and Contessa could put not
only her life in danger, but also the lives of the entire
Jewish ghetto. But when the Conte agrees to pay Hannah the
large sum of money which will buy her husband's freedom,
Hannah agrees to help deliver the Contessa's child. When
Hannah arrives, the Contessa seems not long for this world.
Not only is the Contessa's life in danger, but Hannah
realizes the child is not in a position for a safe delivery.
Torn between her training as a midwife and the realization
that the mother and child hold the key to freeing her
husband, Hannah struggles to save the child, at the request
of the Conte, even at the expense of the mother. But
Hannah's miraculous skills, save not only the child, but the
mother as well.
Armed with the money to free her husband, Hannah is ill
prepared for the unexpected danger that threatens her when
she accidentally leaves proof of her visit in the Contessa's
room. When her midwife tools find themselves in the wrong
hands, Hannah must use all her skills and wits to outsmart
the greedy brothers of the Conte, who wish to do away with
the child who has robbed them of their inheritance. As
Hannah struggles to save the child she miraculously brought
into the world, Issac Levi is sold and resold as a slave in
Malta. Only the memory of Hannah gives him the strength to
endure the torture and starvation he must face as a Jewish
slave. But Issac is armed with one powerful weapon: his
literacy. Issac uses his florid writing skills to free
himself and return back to the arms of his beautiful wife,
the midwife of Venice.
Roberta Rich pens an unforgettable novel of enduring love,
greed, and unbridled corruption. Set in the plague infested
streets of Venice, Rich immerses readers into Hannah's
desperate struggle between the man she loves and the child
she has grown to love as her own. THE MIDWIFE OF VENICE is a
novel will which touch the hearts of readers. Unwavering
love, family intrigue, and the horrors of the Black Death
make THE MIDWIFE OF VENICE a splendid read!
A "lavishly detailed" ( Elle Canada) debut that masterfully
captures sixteenth century Venice against a dramatic and
poetic tale of suspense. Not since The Red Tent or People of
the Book has a novel transported readers so intimately into
the complex lives of women centuries ago or so richly into a
story of intrigue that transcends the boundaries of history.
Hannah Levi is renowned for her gift at coaxing reluctant
babies from their mothers using her secret "birthing
spoons." When a Christian count implores her to attend his
dying wife and save their unborn son, she is torn. A Papal
edict forbids Jews from rendering medical treatment to
Christians, but the count's payment is enough to ransom
Hannah's husband, Isaac, who has been captured at sea. Can
she refuse her duty to a woman who is suffering? Hannah's
choice entangles her in a treacherous family rivalry that
endangers the child and threatens her voyage to Malta, where
Isaac, believing her dead in the plague, is preparing to buy
his passage to a new life. Beautifully told with exceptional
skill, The Midwife of Venice brings to life a time and a
place cloaked in fascination and mystery and introduces a
captivating new talent in historical fiction.
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