Title: The Midwife's SecretAuthor: Emily Gunnis
Published by: Headline Books on Dec. 7, 2021
Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller
Pages: 384
Format: Hardcover
Source: Mobius Books US
Book Rating: 9/10
A little girl goes missing from Yew Tree Manor – the same house from which a girl vanished decades before. Does the key to the present lie buried even deeper in the past, in the forgotten history of an innocent midwife accused by a family of shocking betrayal? A gripping, heartwrenching story of love, loyalty and family secrets.
From the internationally bestselling author of THE GIRL IN THE LETTER and THE LOST CHILD.
When six-year-old Alice Hilton goes missing in the snow on New Year’s Eve 1969 from Yew Tree Manor, suspicion immediately falls on local man Alf Simms. Simms had a grievance against Alice’s father, wealthy Richard Hilton, and he is arrested, tried and found guilty for Alice’s death. Tragically the child is never found.
Decades later, Willow Simms, an architect working on a development at Yew Tree Manor, discovers that the land surrounding the house is holding a secret. And when another little girl goes missing from Yew Tree, Willow realizes the key to her disappearance lies in the history of the house, and the two families attached to it. A terrible wrong needs to be made right…and to uncover it, Willow must unravel events from long ago, when in 1919 a court sentenced a midwife to death, for a shocking crime that happened at Yew Tree Manor…
Review:
Absorbing, mysterious, and moving!
The Midwife’s Secret transports you to Sussex, England between 1946 and 2017, and immerses you into the ongoing, complex, multi-generational relationships between the wealthy, entitled Hilton family and the poor, victimized James family complete with all the powerful emotions, despicable tales, long-buried secrets, and unimaginable tragedy that has tied them together for the past seventy years.
The prose is eloquent and expressive. The characters are vulnerable, conflicted, and hardworking. And the plot is an enthralling, emotional saga filled with life, loss, familial drama, survival, betrayal, corruption, social injustice, tragedy, inequality, manipulation, and heartbreak.
Overall, The Midwife’s Secret is a heart-tugging, clever, haunting tale by Gunnis that reminds us that the choices we make often have far-reaching consequences, and skeletons often find their way to the surface no matter how well they’re buried.
This novel is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.
Thank you to Mobius Books US for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.
About Emily Gunnis
Emily Gunnis previously worked in TV drama and lives in Brighton with her young family. She is one of the four daughters of Sunday Times bestselling author Penny Vincenzi.
Photo courtesy of Author's Website.
