The Secret Midwife: Life, Death and the Truth about Birth

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Suddenly a prisoner of Auschwitz, Emilia is surrounded by horror and despair. When she is put to work as a midwife in the camp, she realises that she has a chance to bring a small glimmer of hope to the pregnant women of Auschwitz. Alongside a brave imprisoned doctor, Aleksy, and an innocent outcast, Lena, she comes up with a dangerous plan. A plan that if discovered could mean a fate far worse than death, but if they act undetected, they could save countless lives… Thank you NetGalley, Lake Union Publishing and Soraya Lane for another wonderful book to read and review. The opinions expressed are strictly my own. The Secret Midwife: Life, Death and the Truth about Birth is a highly affecting account of one midwife's experiences in her field. Many of us would go on to a be employed in a job that pays the bill — Pippa isn't one of them. It's not even a job for her, it's a vocation, a mission, and I think that's admirable. One of the main characters is Emilia, a midwife from a small town in Poland. Emilia is committed to helping everyone, including delivering Jewish babies and helping to smuggle these babies to safety. Our other main character is Alesky, a doctor, who is trying to keep his town safe from the Nazis by leading them to believe his town is in the midst of a typhus outbreak and helping any injured resistance members. Because of their behavior, Emilia and Alesky end up in Auschwitz. Together, they do what they can to protect and care for as many of their fellow prisoners while risking their own lives. In FGM cases, doctors prefer to take the lead because it’s harder for the birthing mother to push out the baby, and they will often need medical intervention. If the doctors are male, however, that can be problematic with the husbands. We do try and facilitate requests but there is only so much that can be done if there are no female doctors attending on the day. Occasionally, we have to be quite stern and tell the father that either he lets a doctor do his job or he needs to leave. It is quite maddening at times to see how people will put religious belief above medical necessity.

The Secret Midwife by Soraya M. Lane | Goodreads

All staff should have the opportunity to ask for support without worrying about being viewed as not coping When she meets Aleksy a Polish doctor and Obstetrician they join forces to work together and then young Lena steps in to help as well and soon they are saving babies and woman at such danger to themselves. Emilia, a midwife, is caught helping Jewish mothers deliver their babies during the war. She is taken to Auschwitz and is immediately exposed to horrors she couldn't have imagined before.The topic of Auschwitz deserves to be treated with the utmost sensitivity, and as an author it was a daunting prospect to write about it. When I first came up with the concept for this book, it was my editor Victoria who gave me the confidence to write it. Emilia, Lena and Aleksy will stay with me for a long time to come. I am so grateful to have read this story, to have met these characters, and to have discovered such a talented author. I can't wait to read more of her books in the future! I've decided not to have children, but every now and then I'll experience something in my life that would make my brain go 'self, you'll make a fantastic mom' but then I'll be 'but do you want to be a mom?' The answer is, it's not a matter of whether I want it or not, it's whether I can afford it or not.

The Secret Midwife: Life, Death and the Truth about Birth

Interesting insight into the past and present of mid-wifery under the NHS in the U.K. framed around stories of patients and nurses. This is my first book by Soraya M. Lane and from the first chapter, I was hooked and didn't want to put it down. She managed to tell a heartbreaking story inspired by real events, that held some hope and humanity.It is a really well written story, you can almost feel that you are going through the time with them, the author has done a truly magnificent job in bringing her characters to life. A story of Emilia, a midwife like her own mother and grandmother. Emilia delivers babies in her little village in Poland. But when she is arrested by the Gestapo and sent to by train with thousands of others to a concentration camp Auschwitz. During labour, I said, ‘Let me stay, it will help’. They didn’t allow me, citing the Covid restrictions, so I stayed in the car park, but they called me before the delivery.” London, 1995: When on the fiftieth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz a news broadcast runs an appeal for information on the identity of a midwife who saved hundreds of lives, Emilia knows it is time to finally tell her story.

Secret Midwife reveals NHS pandemic hell as mums forced to Secret Midwife reveals NHS pandemic hell as mums forced to

I really didn't know much about what being a midwife really means. I had no idea of the pressure and strain midwifes face every day. This was such a powerful, vividly written book. I think that in general, books based on the Holocaust are quite daunting and the amount of research the author has put into writing this books makes it all the more difficult to read although it remained gripping throughout.Reluctantly, Philippa agreed to see the woman and her baby upstairs in a different room – as the child was five days old and needed to have a blood spot to be screened for various illnesses. A stunningly written heartbreaking tale about the lives and experiences of characters who endured the horrors of Auschwitz. At many appointments, there was no Hindi translator, so Ankita had to rely on Indu to translate by phone.