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Hannah Levi is known throughout Venice for her skill in midwifery. When a Christian nobleman appears at Hannah’s door in the Jewish ghetto, imploring her to help his labouring wife who is near death, Hannah’s compassion is tested. Not only is it illegal for Jews to render medical treatment to Christians, it’s also punishable by torture and death. But can Hannah refuse the handsome reward the nobleman offers? With such a sum, she can rescue her husband, Isaac, who was captured at sea and taken to Malta as a slave of the Knights of St. John. With her “birthing spoons”—rudimentary forceps she invented to help with difficult births—will Hannah be able to save mother and child? And if she can, will she also be able to save herself?
Woven through Hannah’s travails is the story of Isaac’s life as a captive slave in Malta. Fearing that his wife has perished in the plague, he pins his hopes of returning home to Hannah on his talent for writing love letters that melt even the hardest of hearts. Riveting and compulsively readable, The Midwife of Venice is a gripping historical page-turner, enthralling readers with its suspenseful action and vivid depiction of life in sixteenth-century Venice.
