The Midwife of Venice
  • Published: 16 February 2012
  • ISBN: 9781446460856
  • Imprint: Ebury Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 352

The Midwife of Venice

Formats & editions
EBook
16 Feb 2012
Paperback
3 Dec 2012
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A rollicking, fast-paced historical novel set against the richness and squalor of 16th-century Venice and Malta.

At midnight, the dogs, cats, and rats rule Venice. The Ponte di Ghetto Nuovo, the bridge that leads to the ghetto, trembles under the weight of sacks of rotting vegetables, rancid fat, and vermin. Seeping refuse on the streets renders the pavement slick and the walking treacherous.

It was on such a night that the men came for Hannah.

Hannah Levi is famed throughout Venice for her skills as a midwife but, as a Jew, the law forbids her from attending a Christian woman.

However, when the Conte appears at her door in the dead of night, Hannah's compassion is sorely tested. And with the handsome reward he is offering, she could ransom back her husband, currently imprisoned on the island of Malta.

But if she fails in her endeavours to save mother and child, will she be able to save herself, let alone her husband?
  • Published: 16 February 2012
  • ISBN: 9781446460856
  • Imprint: Ebury Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 352
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About the author

Roberta Rich

Roberta Rich divides her time between Vancouver and Colima, Mexico. She is a former family law lawyer. Her debut novel, The Midwife of Venice, is available from Ebury Press.

portrait photo of Roberta Rich

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Praise for The Midwife of Venice

A compelling and engaging novel, a well-researched high-stakes drama written with elegance and compassion: fascinating!

Sandra Gulland

A lavishly detailed historical novel

Elle Magazine

A lively tale involving love, blackmail, family, murder, plague, intercultural compassion, dramatic last-minute rescues and some very creative disguises . . . Rich capably depicts the strength of women and the precariousness of their lives, regardless of status or religion

The Globe and Mail

A meticulously researched page-turner that evokes renaissance Venice with remarkable clarity, radiance, and vigour

William Deverell

A suspenseful tale... The book is obviously well researched, and its descriptions of Venice and Malta are both fascinating and realistic

Vancouver Sun

Entertainingly suspenseful. . . . [A] moving melodrama of steadfast love against all odds. In a series of cliff-hanging chapters, Hannah transforms from a "timid little ghetto mouse" into a resourceful young woman as she seeks to save her husband and an innocent child.... Rich's fascinating historical details and her warm empathy for her protagonists will capture historical fiction fans and readers who enjoyed Anita Diamant's The Red Tent

Library Journal

Not only did Roberta Rich transport me to sixteenth-century Venice, with its seductive tapestry of smells, sights, textures and beliefs, she involved me in a poignant story of seasoned love. I don't know which I admired more - the wonderfully realized setting or the suspenseful story of Hannah and Isaac

Katherine Ashenburg

Rich skillfully incorporates a wealth of historical detail into her riveting tale of a heroine who won't give up on her marriage

Chicago Tribune

Rich successfully captures the seedy side of 16th-century Venice--the Jewish ghetto, the plague, the confluence of religious and legal authority

Publishers Weekly

Roberta Rich plunges into the stench, intrigue and skulduggery of 16th-century plague-ridden Venice. . . . Rich revels in the details of light, smell, sound, and larger-than-life characters

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