The Runaway Midwife audiobook

Sometimes a book just draws you into its universe so deeply, you feel like you are part of the story. I felt that way about Patricia Harman's The Runaway Midwife.Midwife Clara Perry is dealing with her husband's recurring infidelity, her painful estrangement from her daughter, and the shocking suicide of her best friend when a tragic end to a childbirth she was attending occurs.Fearing the consequences of that tragedy, Clara decides to runaway to a remote island town in Canada. She changes her name, rents a small house, and hopes to just hide out.Soon Clara finds that cannot live totally off the grid. She meets her neighbor Molly, a mom who befriends Clara and offers her a ride to the closest grocery store. Pete is the local cop who takes it upon himself to check up on everyone in the area, making sure they are OK. Jed runs the local clinic and recruits Clara to help him out, which she agrees to do.There is a group of people who live on a commune, and there is friction between the townies and them. Clara tries to keep a foot in both camps, as she likes Molly and Rainbow, who lives on the commune.There is conflict between the people who want to see a casino built, because that means jobs and more tax money for schools and roads, and those (like the commune residents) who love the pristine nature of the beautiful land surrounding them and don't want to ruin that.Harman does a wonderful job creating this small community. As a reader, I felt like I was right there, living among the community members instead of reading about it in a book. I grew up in a very cold, snowy region of the country, and related to the climate of this tiny island outpost off Lake Erie.The Runaway Midwife harkened me back to my days reading Little House on the Prairie books, with the townspeople banding together to help one another. I loved the characters, they felt like real people you would meet, and Clara's evolving story kept me interested. There are secrets (will Clara's identity be discovered?), sex, true friendship and community, and although The Runaway Midwife isn't necessarily a book I would have thought I would like, I truly loved it and highly recommend it. Now I will look for Patricia Harman's first book, The Midwife of Hope River.

I liked this book! I liked Clara/Sara- she came through to me loud and clear as a very real person dealing with her issues in the only way she knew. You might quibble with her method of running away but she found herself in Canada. My only quibble is that this hits a lot of issues- suicide, death, midwivery, environmental/developmental concerns- but that's real life. You can't quibble with Sara's sensitive touch with Molly or her love of Tiger and the birds in her view (nice info btw), nor can you argue about her love interests, both of whom clearly care for her, albeit differently. All in all this was a hit for me and I thank Edelweiss for the ARC. Try this one !

The Runaway Midwife is an interesting tale. A story of a wife and mother mourning the loss of a good friend runs away from her life. She not only runs but she leaves the country without a passport and becomes someone else. I cannot imagine living my life that way. She is scared of being found out at every turn she makes. She is afraid of making friends for fear that they will find out who she is. Clara is a sweet woman. Even on the hiding from the law she cannot hide her caring loving side. She helps out everyone who needs it, even some that do not. The people of Sea Gull Island cannot help but want to know more about her and she ends up making friends. As the story continues I was hoping that the truth would come out so she could stop living in fear and start living her life. I really liked Clara and could only hope that all would work out for the best. The story is interesting. I cannot imagine running away from the life I live and starting over in secret. There were some things that I questioned, like her husband and his reaction to all that was happening, but it did not stop me from enjoying the story. I was also surprised by the how accepting the people of Sea Gull Island were of a stranger living a very private life. I recommend picking up your own copy.

What a pleasant surprise! I picked this book up at the library based on the plot summary, and I really, really enjoyed it! Who hasn't dreamed of running away from life? Clara Perry has done it. The descriptions of Seagull Island and its inhabitants (animal and human) were so vivid that I could almost smell the salty air. The characters were realistic and fully developed. I was actually jealous of Clara's isolation, quite honestly. And I would love to visit Seagull Island, if it is indeed a real place. I haven't yet looked it up.This book made me think, and it reminded me that home is where you make it. Home is not a place, it's the people you love and who love you back. Some of the situations strained the imagination a little bit but the rest of the story was so good I was willing to overlook some of the implausibilities. Excellent, excellent book! I highly recommend!

I received a digital review copy of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for a fair and honest review.Clara Perry is having a horrible year. First, a good friend commits suicide. Second, she finds out that her husband is cheating on her...again. And last, one of her midwifery patients dies in labor and Clara is wanted for questioning about medical negligence and possible manslaughter charges. Unable to cope with everything crashing down around her, Clara does the only thing she can think of and that's run. Not only does she run away from her husband and the medicolegal dilemmas facing her in West Virginia, she runs away from everything, taking all of the cash available in the bank, assuming a new identity, and leaves the country. She ends up on a small Canadian island off of Lake Erie across from Ohio. It is there that she finds the chance to find out what she wants from life and how she might be able to obtain it since she's living as not only a fugitive but also as an illegal immigrant. But how can she truly find herself if she's living a lie? Is it possible to run away from who we really are and build a new life on a shaky foundation?I found The Runaway Midwife to be a fast-paced and entrancing read. Even though I was dealing with an increasingly severe migraine headache, I kept on reading simply because I had to know what happened next. (I did eventually wind up taking a break for a few hours to allow the pain medication to kick in, but I didn't want to set aside this story even for a cursed migraine.) I enjoyed reading about Clara/Sara's journey of self-discovery and the realization that the past might just come back to bite you when least expected. Ms. Harman incorporated so much more into this story than just run away from life's problems, there's an unsolved rape case on the island that has repercussions in the present, there's an initial divide between the life-long islanders and the so-called "hippies" that have moved in and are interested in living off the land, there's an environmental standoff when confronting development versus preservation, and then there's the socioeconomic adversity of a dwindling population and what can be done to maintain the island and the islander's lifestyles. This isn't just a story of running away from life's problems, it's also a story about new beginnings not just for Clara/Sara but for the island as well, and a story of hope. If you haven't read anything by Ms. Harman, you are sorely missing out. Her nonfiction, as well as her historical fiction books, are truly a delight to read (I'm not just saying that because she's a fellow West Virginian either). The Runaway Midwife is a recommended read by this blogger/reader and I hope that you'll enjoy it just as much as I did. Now, go out and get yourself a copy so you have something enjoyable to read this weekend. Just in case you couldn't tell, I really enjoyed reading The Runaway Midwife and I look forward to reading more from Ms. Harman in the future.Original review posted on 2/9/2017 at www.thebookdivasreads.com.

This was a "WOW" book at a time when I really needed a "WOW" book. Clara had some really bad stuff happen to her and she just disappears and when you read what happens to her in the first few pages of the book, well, if you could pack up what you could and start over again.I read Patricia's "The Reluctant Midwife" in 2015 and totally loved it.I've always like books with midwifes, but I've found very few that are contemporary. I had some odd problems with the book, starting with the woman that died giving birth. Why did they send the body to Pittsburgh for autopsy? There are major cities in WV that have good hospitals that that made little sense to me, unless the Torrington, WV was on the pan handle closer to Steubenville, OH, but even that made little sense to me as both Morgantown, and Wheeling have large hospitals. (I live about 50 miles from both cities) I was also miffed that Torrington is a made up city too..as is Sea Gull island. Yeah I kept looking up these places.But the book really drew me in. I wanted to learn how anyone could possibly start over off the grid. Would she get found out? What would happen if she did.What I found out was this wasn't a book about Clara/Sara getting back her old life, but of one woman starting over completely. There's a lot of fear in Sara's life. I kept thinking that something was going to happen and she was going to be sent back to the U.S. I was actually very surprised at how the book ended.Sara's new life was a quiet one. I loved how she found Tiger and how much a part of her life the tabby cat became. (I'm a sucker for animals in stories). She grows close to several residents, Molly and Nita. Nita's death is one of the most emotionally charged parts of the story.The ending tied things up a little to quickly and easily for me, which is what kept this from being a stellar book.

Book provided in return for an honest review. Like some of the other reviewers, I dove into this book thinking it would be about midwifery and births. In the literal sense, there wasn't so much, in the esoteric sense - it was the whole book. While not so much about Clara/Sara's profession and passion it was about the birthing of relationships, sense of self, life purpose, hobbies and interests, understanding, forgiveness, love. Woven through-out the pages are sights, scents, sounds, tastes and sensations that made the island, people and experience come alive in my imagination. The story hit on issues many women can relate to - wait, for that matter, men as well: dealing with infidelity; loss of friendships from death, emotions, and distance; aging; love; relating to others with different ways of looking at the world; living in a community; financial concerns; family and how that is defined; 'wrong' vs 'right'; loss of ability to continue with her passion for her work; and those are the ones that resonated with me - I encourage you to read it for yourself and see what strikes a cord with you.

I enjoyed reading this book.

I received this book in a Good Reads give away, I really enjoyed the book. Likable characters and a good ending.

What an incredible story - really loved the story line and the characters. I caught myself several times trying to give the main character advice out loud. That's how into the book I was. Although the story contained a heartbreaking incident to begin with the plot adds humor and great character interaction as the book develops.

A perfect book for a Sunday afternoon by the fireReally enjoyed this novel of s woman caught in a difficult situation and finding a different life. Beautiful descriptions of Seagull Island made this a pleasure to read, it made me see the cold, storms and ice so vividly

I loved this book! Clara is a midwife that leaves her life and becomes someone else in a far away island off the coast of Canada on Lake Erie. She is running away from her old life and recent tragedies and finds refuge on this rural Seagull Island. She finds peace in her new life but also finds her true self. Sheehan’s a deep dark secret and must keep it from her new found friends in the island but when will the truth come out? Will it all be ok? I loved how the book is written... it’s like a diary with short chapters. We’ve all thoughts about running away from our lives at one point in our life. This story really brings it to a believable realty. I highly recommend this book.

Oplæser: Vibeke Søllested. Gør det rigtig godt. I vanlig stil, imponere Patricia Harman i Jordemoder på flugt. Hun skriver bare så fantastisk - om mennesker, om at finde sig selv, om at finde sin vej i livet og om den smukke, smukke natur. Denne gang foregår romanen i Canada på en lille og ganske ubetydelig ø, der 5 måneder om året er uden forbindelse til omverdenen. Men sikke et dejligt samfund, med mennesker der giver og tager, mennesker der lever i pagt med naturen, men naturligvis også drømmer om bedre levevilkår og flere jobs.

I absolutely loved this book! I was immediately fascinated with the story and life on the island. I'm hoping for a follow up to this wonderful story!