Midwife of the Blue Ridge

May 12, 2008
An accomplished midwife, orphan Maggie Duncan leaves 1760 Scotland at 22, in search of opportunities in the New World. She pays for her crossing with four years of indentured servitude. Aboard ship, sadistic viscount Julian Cavendish drunkenly stumbles upon Maggie attempting to grab a few moments of forbidden above deck sleep and tries to rape her. At landfall, kindly Virginia frontiersman Seth Martin, in need of Maggie's medical skills to save his ailing wife, purchases her contract. Seth's best friend, Tom Roberts, a rugged hunter, instantly catches Maggie's eye, but she hasn't seen the last of evil Julian Cavendish. Blevins doesn't soft-peddle the brutal realities of women's lot in the colonies, but she gives strong, skilled Maggie pluck and hope.

July 1, 2008
When Maggie Duncan, the lone survivor of her small Scottish villages massacre after Colloden, signs up for passage to the New World as an indentured servant, little does she realize the horrorsor the satisfactionin store for her. Her skills as a midwife make her valuable to Seth Martin, who purchases her contract in the hope of saving his wifes life, but her dark good looks lead others to pursue her in the hope of bedding her. Blevins has lavishly and minutely described life in the Virginia mountains just before the French and Indian Wars in this historical novel. The squeamish may balk at some of the details, while history buffs will discover inaccuracies, but overall this provides an in-depth and up-close look at what life was really like in those times for the working poor trying to eke out an existence on Americas rugged frontier.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)