Aloha to Roberta Rich and THE MIDWIFE OF VENICE

A realist, in Venice, would become a romantic by mere faithfulness to what he saw before him. - Arthur Symons 


I have had the pleasure of visiting Venice once - it is a romantic city.  Yet debut author Roberta Rich was inspired by less romantic view.  From her website (at this link),


Four years ago, she and her husband, Ken, were touring Venice when inspiration struck. “We were on a walking tour of the Jewish ghetto, which, if you haven’t seen it for yourself, is like a movie set of narrow, dark buildings and several synagogues, tucked away on second and third floors, out of view,” she said.

“Walking up the staircases and through musty passages and narrow streets strung with drying laundry, I began to wonder what life must have been for Jews who flocked to the ghetto as one of the few safe havens available at the time,” she added. With these ideas racing through her mind, Rich thought she had the makings of a novel. “I started thinking about my characters and a plot almost immediately after visiting the ghetto,” she recalled. 

THE MIDWIFE OF VENICE offers a broader perspective of European history through the eyes of a Jewish midwife:  

Hannah Levi is renowned throughout Venice for her gift at coaxing reluctant babies from their mothers—a gift aided by the secret “birthing spoons” she designed. But when a count implores her to attend to his wife, who has been laboring for days to give birth to their firstborn son, Hannah is torn. A Papal edict forbids Jews from rendering medical treatment to Christians, but the payment he offers is enough to ransom her beloved husband, Isaac, who has been captured at sea. Can Hannah refuse her duty to a suffering woman? Hannah’s choice entangles her in a treacherous family rivalry that endangers the baby and threatens her voyage to Malta, where Isaac, believing her dead in the plague, is preparing to buy his passage to a new life. 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. 

Canadian cover

I posted my review of THE MIDWIFE OF VENICE on Amazon at this link.  I am giving away a print copy of THE MIDWIFE OF VENICE to one randomly selected commenter.  To enter the giveaway,


1.  Leave a comment about Venice - have you had the pleasure of a gondola ride?   Have you seen it through the eyes of a film director?  What would you order from a cafe along the Grand Canal?


2.  This giveaway is open to all readers.


3.  Comments are open through Saturday, May 12, 10 pm in Hawaii.  I'll post the winner on Sunday, May 13.


Mahalo,


Kim in Hawaii

UK cover