Roberta Rich

For readers of Heather Marshall and Kate Quinn, an unforgettable, fast-paced historical debut set against the richness and squalor of sixteenth-century Venice and Malta.

Venice, 1575

Hannah ha-Levi, a midwife in the Jewish ghetto, is known throughout Venice for her skill in midwifery. When a Christian count appears at Hannah’s door imploring her to attend his labouring wife who is near death, Hannah’s compassion is tested. Not only is it illegal for Jews to render medical treatment to Christians, it’s also punishable by torture…and death. But Hannah cannot turn down the money. With such a handsome sum, she can save her own husband, Isaac, who was captured at sea and taken to Malta as a slave of the Knights of St. John. Aided by her “birthing spoons”—rudimentary forceps she invented to help with difficult births—will Hannah be able to save mother and child? And if she can, will she also be able to save herself?

Woven through Hannah’s travails is the story of Isaac’s life as a captive slave in Malta. Fearing that his wife has perished in the plague, he pins his hopes of returning home to Hannah on his talent for writing love letters that melt even the hardest of hearts.

Riveting, lush, and compulsively readable, The Midwife of Venice combines propulsive adventure with richly evocative historical writing.