
The Birth House
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Narrated by:
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Geneviève Steele
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By:
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Ami McKay
About this listen
The Birth House is the story of Dora Rare, the first daughter to be born in five generations of Rares. As a child in an isolated village in Nova Scotia, she is drawn to Miss Babineau, an outspoken Acadian midwife with a gift for healing. Dora becomes Miss B.’s apprentice, and together they help the women of Scots Bay through infertility, difficult labours, breech births, unwanted pregnancies and even unfulfilling sex lives. Filled with details as compelling as they are surprising, The Birth House is an unforgettable tale of the struggles women have faced to have control of their own bodies and to keep the best parts of tradition alive in the world of modern medicine.
©2009 Ami McKay (P)2021 Vintage CanadaListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
2020, Governor General's Literary Award—Translation
2007, OLA Evergreen Award
"The Birth House is a poignant, compassionate, bittersweet and nostalgic look at early 20th-century Nova Scotia. . . . Reading McKay’s novel is like dipping into a saner, more intimate, past; a past that’s long gone. . . . McKay is not only a new author to note, but one to look forward to with anticipation."—National Post
"From the beginning of Ami McKay’s debut novel, The Birth House, we know we’re in for a bit of magic. . . . The Birth House is compelling and lively, beautifully conjuring a close-knit community and reminding us, as Dora notes, that the miracle happens not in birth but in the love that follows."—The Globe and Mail
"The Birth House is filled with charming detail. . . . McKay has a quiet and lyrical style that suits her subject. . . . [It is] a story of individual human tenderness and endurance. . . . McKay is clearly a talented writer with a subtle sense of story, one that readers will look forward to hearing from, again and again."—The Gazette (Montreal)
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The Mersey Mistress
- By: Sheila Riley
- Narrated by: Julie Maisey
- Length: 8 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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1910 Liverpool Docks. Ruby Swift is a hard-working, straight-talking woman of substance who does not suffer fools gladly. But when tragedy strikes on a bitter Christmas Eve, Ruby and her beloved Archie take matters into their own hands when a trusted employee’s house is mysteriously engulfed by flames and lives are lost. Orphaned by the fire, Ruby welcomes heartbroken 16-year-old Anna Cassidy into her home and family, but circumstances conspire against them, and she is unable to save Anna's 12-year-old brother Sam Cassidy, who is sent by the church to Canada as a Homeboy.
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Love, what a story...
- By Anonymous User on 09-12-22
By: Sheila Riley
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The Boy with the Star Tattoo
- A Novel
- By: Talia Carner
- Narrated by: Carlotta Brentan
- Length: 14 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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1942: As the Vichy government hunts for Jews across France, Claudette Pelletier, a young and talented seamstress and lover of romance novels, falls in love with a Jewish man who seeks shelter at the château where she works. Their whirlwind and desperate romance before he must flee leaves her pregnant and terrified. When the Nazis invade the Free Zone shortly after the birth of her child, the disabled Claudette is forced to make a heartbreaking choice and escapes to Spain, leaving her baby in the care of his nursemaid.
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Great history lesson
- By Kathy on 03-30-24
By: Talia Carner
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Searching for My Daughter
- By: Liz Trenow
- Narrated by: Karen Cass
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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When Miriam arrives at a British checkpoint, she is exhausted and hungry. But deep down she knows she is still one of the fortunate ones. One of the few to survive the camps. Having lost her husband and son, Miriam clings to the hope of finding her daughter, Rosa.
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A mother's love endures All.
- By RMDY on 05-02-25
By: Liz Trenow
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Wild, Beautiful, and Free
- A Novel
- By: Sophfronia Scott
- Narrated by: Channie Waites
- Length: 11 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Born the daughter of an enslaved woman and a Louisiana plantation owner, Jeannette Bébinn is raised alongside her white half sister—until her father suddenly dies. His vindictive wife refuses twelve-year-old Jeannette her inheritance and sells her into slavery. Now on her own, Jeannette must fight the injustices she faces because of her mixed race. She escapes enslavement and travels from Mississippi to Philadelphia to New York to Ohio, all while searching for purpose, love, and her place in a country torn asunder by the burgeoning Civil War.
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Beautiful
- By AP on 05-19-23
By: Sophfronia Scott
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The Midwife of Hope River
- A Novel of an American Midwife
- By: Patricia Harman
- Narrated by: Anne Wittman
- Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Midwife Patience Murphy has a gift: a talent for escorting mothers through the challenges of bringing children into the world. Working in the hardscrabble conditions of Appalachia during the Depression, Patience takes the jobs that no one else wants, helping those most in need - and least likely to pay. She knows a successful midwifery practice must be built on a foundation of openness and trust - but the secrets Patience is keeping are far too intimate and fragile for her to ever let anyone in.
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Coal Mines, The Depression, and Lots of Babies
- By Debbie on 03-06-19
By: Patricia Harman
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This Is Where It Ends
- By: Cindy K. Sproles
- Narrated by: Barbara McCulloh
- Length: 10 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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When Minerva Jane Jenkins was just 14 years old, she married a man who moved her to the mountains. He carried with him a small box, which he told her was filled with gold. And when he died 50 years later, he made her promise to keep his secret. She is to tell no one about the box or the treasure it contains. Now 94, Minerva is nearing the end of what has sometimes been a lonely life. But she's kept that secret. Even so, rumors of hidden gold have a way of spreading, and Minerva is visited by a reporter, Del Rankin, who wants to know more of her story.
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Engaging story
- By Melissas Bookshelf on 07-13-23
By: Cindy K. Sproles
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White Mulberry
- A Novel
- By: Rosa Kwon Easton
- Narrated by: Michelle H. Lee
- Length: 8 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Inspired by the life of Easton’s grandmother, White Mulberry is a rich, deeply moving portrait of a young Korean woman in 1930s Japan who is torn between two worlds and must reclaim her true identity to provide a future for her family.
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Understanding survival
- By Leatine Fasano on 04-26-25
By: Rosa Kwon Easton
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Once You Were Mine
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Langston
- Narrated by: Austenne Grey
- Length: 11 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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In a quiet North Carolina town in 1968, a seventeen-year-old girl’s life is forever changed when a summer romance leads to an unplanned pregnancy. She is sent to an abusive “maternity home,” where she is shamed and deceived into signing adoption papers.
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Looooong
- By Tracy Sowers on 05-19-25
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The Women on Platform Two
- By: Laura Anthony
- Narrated by: Jessica Regan, Shakira Shute, Maeve Smyth
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Dublin, 1969: Maura has just married Dr. Christy Davenport and they look forward to growing their family. But as her husband’s vicious temper emerges, Maura worries that her home might never be safe for a child. Meanwhile, her close friend Bernie, a mother of three, learns the devastating news that if she conceives again, her health complications could prove fatal.
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Great, wonderful, historically accurate!
- By David Ashby on 06-18-25
By: Laura Anthony
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Appalachian Song
- By: Michelle Shocklee
- Narrated by: Caroline Hewitt
- Length: 9 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Bertie Jenkins has spent forty years serving as a midwife for her community in the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee. Out of all the mothers she’s tended, none affects her more than the young teenager who shows up on her doorstep, injured, afraid, and expecting, one warm June day in 1943. As Bertie and her four sisters tenderly nurture Songbird back to health, the bond between the childless midwife and the motherless teen grows strong. But soon Songbird is forced to make a heartbreaking decision that will tear this little family apart.
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You Just Have to Read This Story!
- By Phyllis R on 11-14-23
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The Lost Passenger
- A Novel
- By: Frances Quinn
- Narrated by: Heather Long
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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An immersive historical drama about a young mother who starts a new life with her son in New York after faking their deaths on the Titanic—the U.S. debut of acclaimed British novelist Frances Quinn.
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Caste Study
- By Suzanna on 05-20-25
By: Frances Quinn
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The Filling Station
- A Novel
- By: Vanessa Miller
- Narrated by: Angel Pean
- Length: 10 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Sisters Margaret and Evelyn Justice have grown up in the prosperous Greenwood District of Tulsa, Oklahoma--also known as Black Wall Street. In Greenwood, the Justice sisters had it all--movie theaters and entertainment venues, beauty shops and clothing stores, high-profile businesses like law offices, medical clinics, and banks. While Evelyn aspires to head off to the East Coast to study fashion design, recent college grad Margaret plans to settle in Greenwood, teaching at the local high school and eventually raising a family.
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well written story with historical accounts
- By Anonymous User on 06-13-25
By: Vanessa Miller
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Days You Were Mine
- By: Clare Leslie Hall
- Narrated by: Dominic Thorburn, Cassie Layton
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Luke and Hannah live a happy and stable life in London, working in jobs they love as they prepare for the arrival of their first child, Samuel. All his life, Luke has known he was adopted, but he’s never felt the need to seek out his birth mother—until he becomes a father himself.
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Back and forth story
- By Patti Hedenberg on 06-17-25
relationships, historical fiction in a Nova Scotia village
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Having recently visited Nova Scotia, I was specifically looking for a novel in that setting, and this one perfectly captured the magic of the place as well as the humor and homespun nature of the people.
I also thought the book did a great job capturing the attitudes about women of the time and a slice of the history of midwifery.
It also touches on the ship-building of the day. A crucial industry in the maritime for decades.
The reader was exceptional.
Highly enjoyable!
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Fascinating tale of a remote east coast village!
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I love the relationship between Ms. B and Nora!
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Enchanting!
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Really Interesting
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People like to read about what they do, and this book just really resonated with me as a midwife. The characters are so true to what I have seen experienced in my own life, both the midwives and the mothers.
I would highly recommend this book as a beautifully written work of historical fiction.
As a midwife, I would highly recommend this book
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Fantastic story
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womens suffrage
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****
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