The Midwife of Venice

Hannah Levi is a Jewish midwife in Venice in 1575. She lives in the Jewish ghetto and has managed to alienate her rabbi and create an enemy of one of the most powerful men in Venice all in one go. Her estranged sister, who left the fold to marry a man who, in turn, left her, is now a courtesan. And Hannah's husband, Isaac, was captured at sea along with his cargo and is a hostage-cum-slave on Malta. They're pretty unhappy people, all of them, or at least are living pretty unhappy lives. (I should add here that I'm exceedingly grateful not to have lived in the Middle Ages - or immediately thereafter - but then I suppose the same is true for most people.)

Yet, Roberta Rich's tale of how Hannah risks everything by assisting at the birth of the decidedly non-Jewish Countess di Padovani is anything but dark or depressing. Granted, dark moments exist - Isaac on the block at a slave auction, say, or Hannah being blackmailed - but on the whole the tone of The Midwife of Venice is decidedly hopeful. Each of the characters possesses a good measure of resilience even in the face of extremely long odds or outright danger.

The long and the short is that The Midwife of Venice was a great, quick read and one I would recommend to anyone who enjoys a good story, particularly when that story is set amidst the bridges and canals of sixteenth century Venice.