The Midwife's Tale was a joy to read and provided an insight into the rich history of midwifery that I was unfamiliar with. This book would be a delightful addition to the collection of any midwife, student midwife or those applying to study midwifery as it explores the early roots of the midwifery profession—from ‘handywoman’ through the process of formal training and regulation, to the current midwifery context. It tells a rich history through stories of women and families, with direct quotes and passages from those they spoke to, which makes it feel as though you’re a part of a conversation, as opposed to reading a history book.
I enjoyed the similarities between the concerns and worries of midwives in 1940s England, and those of midwives practising today. Midwives then had the same fears for autonomy, for losing normal birth and concerns over the rise in sepsis as midwives today. This is the real strength of the book, placing the stories and changes to our profession in a way that enables them to be compared to today's context; it would be easy to simply describe the history but the authors do more than that, they allow the voices of the women who dedicated themselves to midwifery to shine through and speak their own history.
The facts of life, birth control and abortion are all discussed and explored through midwives’ voices, giving context to the development of the midwife as women began to fight for more independence and opportunities. So much of our current practice, such as our autonomy, is made possible by midwives decades ago fighting to ensure women had access to a midwife during pregnancy, birth and in the postnatal period.
Although the changes to education are mentioned, as a current student midwife it would have been interesting to read about these in more detail, and whether the students themselves or the midwives in practice felt the changes to the content and length of training had an impact on the quality of the midwife on qualification.
I highly recommend this book, as the stories and histories tell us a lot about our current practice. Every step forward we’ve taken is as a result of the work of generations of women who fought to improve the care mothers receive, and this book raises interesting questions as to whether we’ve really come so far. In reading tales of women who receive little or no antenatal education, to those who feel they have no choice as to where they can give birth, to the midwives women describe as bossy and domineering—has as much changed in the last 100 years as we would like?
The Midwife's Tale is the perfect present for any student about to embark on his/her training, as well as those taking tentative steps as a newly qualified midwife.