The Midwife by Jolina Petersheim

I received this book free to review from Netgalley. I chose to read it because I have read the author's book "The Outcast", which I totally loved. I did not love this book as much. In this book, Beth is a surrogate mother for a couple who, when they find out that the baby may have abnormalities, want her to have more testing and abort if the child is found to be deficient. Instead, she runs away to a Mennonite community where she hides in a home for unwed mothers and gives birth to the child. The story is told in three parts - by Beth in 1995-1996 when she becomes a surrogate, and by her in 2014 and by another unwed mother, Amelia in 2014. Beth, who changes her name to Rhoda in the Mennonite community, spends a lot of time in anguish because her mother left her and her family when she was a teenager. Beth/Rhoda blames her mother's rejection for all of her problems in life, which I felt was overdoing things and I kind of thought that part was just too much and that she should have just gotten over it at sometime and gone on with her life. If she had, I would have liked her better, but then there would not have been this story. The story is well written and if you like the Amish/Mennonite genre, I am sure you will enjoy this story.