The Runaway Midwife

A Novel

By: Patricia Harman

Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert

From the USA Today bestselling author of the Hope River series comes a new contemporary midwife novel.

Say “goodbye” to your old life, and “hello” to the life you’ve been waiting for…

Midwife Clara Perry is accustomed to comforting her pregnant patients…calming fathers-to-be as they anxiously await the birth of their children…ensuring the babies she delivers come safely into the world.

But when Clara’s life takes a nosedive, she realizes she hasn’t been tending to her own needs and does something drastic: she runs away and starts over again in a place where no one knows her or the mess she’s left behind in West Virginia. Heading to Sea Gull Island—a tiny, remote Canadian island—Clara is ready for anything. Well, almost. She left her passport back home, and the only way she can enter Canada is by hitching a ride on a snowmobile and illegally crossing the border.

Deciding to reinvent herself, Clara takes a new identity—Sara Livingston, a writer seeking solitude. But there’s no avoiding the outside world. The residents are friendly, and draw “Sara” into their lives and confidences. She volunteers at the local medical clinic, using her midwifery skills, and forms a tentative relationship with a local police officer.

But what will happen if she lets down her guard and reveals the real reason why she left her old life? One lesson soon becomes clear: no matter how far you run, you can never really hide from your past.

Give it time!

Almost every woman i know has thought, at least once, of running away to a new, solitary life. I lived vicariously through Clara/Sarah’s journey. I adore this book, especially because of Ms Gilbert’s narration. At first, the bird sounds and information seemed a little crazy, but as I listened I fell for Ms Gilbert’s narration of even those.

Great story, Interesting character.

This was a great story with very interesting characters. But I really didn't understand why it was Book 3. Yes, it started in the same area in WV as the other 2 books. But they were set in the Depression. This one was set in modern day and seemed to have no connection to any of the other characters in the other books. The main character was in WV for about 5 minutes with the story being set in Canada. I'm guessing it was called Book 3 for marketing purposes.

It was an interesting story and it was about a midwife. But it was quite a different story for sure. However, it was an interesting story with another intriguing love story that I enjoyed. There was just a little more illegal behavior in this one. Of course, there were justifications for it. There always seem to be. But just the same...

In the end, I walked away from this book very happy.

Again, there were similar down sides with the performance as with the other two. It was distracting at times.

The Narrator saves the day!

I very rarely write a bad review, because I know that writers do pour their hearts into their stories. But this story was just plain weird. The main character Sarah has absolutely no common sense. It's hard to have respect for a character when she makes such insane decisions. I realize the author loves nature, I get that. I love it too...but really? She's got Sarah standing outside on a friend's porch in dangerous weather... and Sarah starts howling in the wind. I almost stopped listening at that point, but I had already listened to almost 11 hours, so, hey, why not finish? If I would see a real person in Canada in a dangerous storm, standing there howling in the wind, I would call the authorities, because obviously, she's not stable. Maybe our worldviews clash and this woman, who is probably pushing 50 goes from wife and mother to hopping in the sack with one guy she barely knows and another man, who I won't mention as I don't want to give away the story. If you hold to a liberal and pagan world view, then you will probably love this book.... for me, it's just dumb. Sarah is a loon, and Canada is probably the best place for her, as the country is full of loons (I don't mean the people, I mean the bird) I've got lots of Canadian people I love, so no slam on Canada.

I will say I was rooting for Sarah in the beginning of the story, but about half way through, she takes a hard left turn into a world I cannot understand. It's very pagan and if you're into that, well, you might like it. As a Christian...I was quite offended at the way she presented what Christmas is all about. It's about Jesus Christ, not about singing "This little light of mine"

Very much a humanist.

Tavia Gilbert, as always, is wonderfully stunning. She is the only reason I finished the book, she can make a nutty book worth listening to. I'll have to pass on Harman's other books. That's a shame because I love stories about midwives.

The Runway Midwife is more of a mystery .

It is more of a mystery than a book about midwifery. But after I got into it , it was good. I enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone that likes mysteries.

Confused

I never really got into the book. It was weird and had no compelling story line.
Also, I kept waiting for it to tie into the first two books. It’s a series and literally has no tie into the first two books other than apparently she’s a midwife. Sadly, there is hardly any midwifery in this story.
I’m very hesitant to want to listen to the next books in the series because i don’t want another random story that doesn’t tie in and has no compelling storyline