Feminist dystopian thrillers have been hitting eerily close to reality lately, and The Last Midwife brings that discomfort home.
‘I’m going to snuff out the old witches – every last one of them!’
Childbirth in England is a state-controlled procedure. Midwives have been outlawed for decades. Only a handful remain, risking everything to help mothers give birth in secret, but now their very existence is under threat.
When young nurse Chiara arrives from Sicily, her dreams are quickly shattered by the horrifying truth behind the pristine walls of the Genesis Centre. Meanwhile, Rava, the privileged wife of a government official, finds her perfect life unravelling when her pregnancy fails to meet her husband’s requirements.
Their worlds collide in a desperate fight for life, choice, and humanity against a system determined to control the future, one baby at a time.
What readers are saying: 📚
"London living a nightmare worse than Gilead."
"Fast paced but thoughtful, this book and its characters have stayed with me long since the final page."
"The storyline is compelling ... I could not put it down - as gripping as a Robert Harris novel!"
"The sanitised, ultra-efficient city of London stands in stark contrast to the higgledy-piggledy unregistered slums on the outskirts of the city, and the lush, natural surroundings of the last midwife's boat. ... The author writes these events from a deep, lived-through knowledge being a midwife herself!"
"Strikingly impressive!"