Summary: "Neva Bradley, a third-generation midwife, is determined to keep the details surrounding her own pregnancy--including the identity of the baby's father--hidden from her family and coworkers for as long as possible. Her mother Grace finds it impossible to let this secret rest. The more Grace prods, the tighter Neva holds to her story, and the more the lifelong differences between private, quiet Neva and open, gregarious Grace strain their relationship. For Floss, Neva's grandmother and a retired midwife, Neva's situation thrusts her back sixty years in time to a secret that eerily mirrors her granddaughter's--one which, if revealed, will have life-changing consequences for them all"--Dust jacket flap.
Booklist Reviews
Hepworth's promising debut is a chorus in three voices not so much about the consequences of keeping secrets as it is about the cathartic effect of finally airing them. British ex-pat and retired midwife Floss has literally been carrying a dark secret in the front pocket of her purse for 60 years. Granddaughter Neva has been keeping one that's likely to burst upon the scene any time, but she is still playing her cards close to her vest as far as other critical information is concerned. Finally there is Grace, Neva's mother and Floss' daughter, who has her own secret. Tensions build as the future of both the family and Neva's baby depend upon surviving a horrific New England storm. Ah, families, their conflicts made all the more poignant here by the shared profession of the three midwives. One might expect values that include natural childbirth, motherhood, and mother/child bonding would mean something to these women. But Hepworth credibly paints them no less complexly human and contradictory than anybody else in a not altogether estrogen-drenched tale of redemption via truth. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.
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