Patricia Harman

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. Honest, moving, and beautifully detailed, Patricia Harman's The Midwife of Hope River rings with authenticity as Patience faces nearly insurmountable difficulties. From the dangerous mines of West Virginia to the terrifying attentions of the Ku Klux Klan, Patience must strive to bring new light and life into an otherwise hard world.

A Novel of an American Midwife

The Midwife of Hope River

The author of the nationally bestselling novel The Midwife of Hope River returns with a moving story about the power of the human spirit and the miracle of new life Nurse Becky Myers is a reluctant midwife. She's far more comfortable with tending the sick than helping women deliver their babies. For these mothers-to-be, she relies on an experienced midwife, her dear friend Patience Murphy. But the Great Depression has hit West Virginia hard. Men are out of work; women struggle to feed hungry children. And sometimes Becky is called upon to bring new life into the world. Though she is happy to be back in Hope River, time and experience have tempered Becky's cheerfulness— as tragedy has destroyed the vibrant spirit of her former employer, Dr. Isaac Blum, who has accompanied her. Patience too has changed. Married and expecting a baby herself, she is relying on Becky to keep the mothers of Hope River safe. Becoming a midwife and ushering new life into the world is not Becky's only challenge. Her skills and courage will be tested when a calamitous forest fire blazes through a Civilian Conservation Corps camp. And she must find a way to bring Isaac's spirit back to life and rediscover the hope they both need to go on.

A Hope River Novel

The Reluctant Midwife

a midwife's memoir

The blue cotton gown

"Midwife Clara Perry is accustomed to comforting her pregnant patients, calming fathers-to-be as they anxiously await the birth of their children, and ensuring the babies she delivers come safely into the world. But when Clara's life takes a nosedive, she realizes she hasn't been tending to her own needs and does something drastic: she runs away and starts over again in a place where no one knows her or the mess she's left behind in West Virginia. Heading to Sea Gull Island--a tiny, remote Canadian island--Clara is ready for anything...She left her passport back home, and the only way she can enter Canada is by hitching a ride on a snowmobile and illegally crossing the border. Deciding to reinvent herself, Clara takes a new identity--Sara Livingston, a writer seeking solitude. But there's no avoiding the outside world. The residents are friendly, and draw "Sara" into their lives and confidences. She volunteers at the local medical clinic, using her midwifery skills, and forms a tentative relationship with a local police officer. But what will happen if she lets down her guard and reveals the real reason why she left her old life? One lesson soon becomes clear: no matter how far you run, you can never really hide from your past."--Page 4 of cover.

The runaway midwife

Welcome back to Hope River in USA Today bestselling author Patricia Harman’s newest novel as midwife Patience Hester, along with her family and friends, face the challenges of the home front during World War II. The women of Hope River trust midwife Patience Hester, whose skill in delivering babies is known for miles around. But though the Great Depression is behind them, troubles are not, for Europe is at war…and it can only be a matter of time before the U.S. enters the fray. And while some are eager to join the fight, Patience’s husband, Daniel, is not. Daniel is a patriot—but he saw too much bloodshed during the First World War, and has vowed never to take up arms again. His stance leaves Patience and their four children vulnerable—to the neighbors who might judge them, and to the government, who imprison Daniel for his beliefs. Patience must support their family and fight for her husband’s release despite her own misgivings. And with need greater than ever, she must also keep her practice running during this tumultuous time…relying on generous friends, like Bitsy, who has returned to Hope River, stalwart neighbors, and her own indomitable strength to see them all through.

Once a Midwife

Jordemoderen fra Hope River

La sage-femme des Appalaches

Recounts how the author learned to deliver babies and her experiences in rural communes, political activism, and urban counterculture in the 1970s.

A Midwife's Journey

Arms Wide Open

A 2008 Indie Next Pick Despite nurse-midwife Patsy Harman’s own financial and personal medical trials, including her private battle with uterine cancer, she devotes herself to her patients’ well-being in all aspects of their lives. They, in turn, tell her intimate stories both heartbreaking and uplifting.

A Midwife's Memoir

The Blue Cotton Gown

A midwife’s memoir of living free and naturally against all odds In her first, highly praised memoir, Patricia Harman told us the stories patients brought into her exam room, and her own story of struggling to help women as a nurse-midwife in medical practice with her husband, an OB/GYN, in Appalachia. In this new book, Patsy reaches back to tell us how she first learned to deliver babies, and digs even deeper down to tell us of her youthful experiments with living a fully sustainable and natural life. Drawing heavily on her journals, Arms Wide Open goes back to a time of counter-culture idealism that the boomer generation remembers well. Patsy opens with stories of living in the wilds of Minnesota in a log cabin she and her lover build with their own hands, the only running water being the nearby streams. They set up beehives and give chase to a bear competing for the honey. Patsy gives birth and learns to help her friends deliver as naturally as possible. Weary of the cold and isolation, Patsy moves to a commune in West Virginia, where she becomes a self-taught midwife delivering babies in cabins and homes. Her stories sparkle with drama and intensity, but she wants to help more women than healthy hippie homesteaders. After a ten-year sojourn for professional training, Patsy and her husband, Tom, return to Appalachia, as a nurse-midwife and physician, where they set up a women's-health practice. They deliver babies together, this time in hospitals; care for a wide variety of gyn patients; and live in a lakeside contemporary home--but their hearts are still firmly implanted in nature. The obstetrical climate is changing. The Harmans' family is changing. The earth is changing, but Patsy's arms remain wide open to life and all it offers. Her memoir of living free and sustainably against all odds will be especially embraced by anyone who lived through the Vietnam War and commune era, and all those involved in the back-to-nature and natural-childbirth movements.

Voor de lezers van 'The Help'. Een ontroerende en fascinerende roman over het harde bestaan van een vroedvrouw in de jaren dertig. Na een bewogen tijd probeert vroedvrouw Patience Murphy een nieuw leven op te bouwen op het platteland van West-Virginia, waar ze een kleine boerderij heeft geërfd. Geld heeft ze niet, net zomin als de door de crisis geteisterde families die haar hulp zoeken omdat ze de dokter niet kunnen betalen. Patience zet alles op alles om te helpen. Al improviserend, soms met de moed der wanhoop en op de raarste plekken brengt ze kinderen op de wereld. Toch wordt ze met wantrouwen bekeken: ze is een vrouw die zich niet conformeert, die in haar eigen levensonderhoud voorziet en die niet bang is om voor haar mening op te komen. De enige gelijkgestemde is de plaatselijke veearts. Ze blijft vechten tegen vooroordelen en wantrouwen - eerst alleen, later met hulp uit onverwachte hoek. En elke keer als ze een pasgeboren baby in haar armen houdt, weet ze dat ze nooit zal opgeven. Al komt het gevaar wel heel dichtbij...

Het huis van de vroedvrouw

From the USA Today bestselling author of the Hope River series comes a new contemporary midwife novel. Say “goodbye” to your old life, and “hello” to the life you’ve been waiting for… Midwife Clara Perry is accustomed to comforting her pregnant patients…calming fathers-to-be as they anxiously await the birth of their children…ensuring the babies she delivers come safely into the world. But when Clara’s life takes a nosedive, she realizes she hasn’t been tending to her own needs and does something drastic: she runs away and starts over again in a place where no one knows her or the mess she’s left behind in West Virginia. Heading to Sea Gull Island—a tiny, remote Canadian island—Clara is ready for anything. Well, almost. She left her passport back home, and the only way she can enter Canada is by hitching a ride on a snowmobile and illegally crossing the border. Deciding to reinvent herself, Clara takes a new identity—Sara Livingston, a writer seeking solitude. But there’s no avoiding the outside world. The residents are friendly, and draw “Sara” into their lives and confidences. She volunteers at the local medical clinic, using her midwifery skills, and forms a tentative relationship with a local police officer. But what will happen if she lets down her guard and reveals the real reason why she left her old life? One lesson soon becomes clear: no matter how far you run, you can never really hide from your past.

A Novel

The Runaway Midwife

En varm og livsbekræftende selvbiografi af jordemoderen Patricia Harman, der har begejstret læsere verden over med romanen Jordemoderen fra Hope River. Som ung lever Patricia Harman med kæreste og lille barn ude i en primitiv bjælkehytte i Minnesotas skove ud fra et idealistisk ønske om at være selvforsynende. Nybyggerlivet viser sig dog at være hårdt slid fra morgen til aften, og ikke mindst er det et ensomt liv i de kolde vintermåneder. Senere flytter parret ind i et storkollektiv i Ohio og får nye kærester og børn, men også dén drøm skal vise sig svær at realisere. Sideløbende fortæller Patricia Harman om de første hjemmefødsler, hun tager ud til, og hvor de første frø til et langt liv som jordemoder bliver lagt. Fra hjertet – en jordemoders rejse er en fortælling om at være ung og idealistisk. Om at jage bjørne på flugt. Om livets simple glæder og sorger. Og om at finde sit kald. Samtidig giver bogen et stærkt og levende tidsbillede fra hippietidens USA.

Patricia Harman

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