The Midwife of Venice

It was hard being a woman, and even harder being a Jew, in sixteenth-century Venice. Antoinette LaVecchia's strong performance details the grim realities of ghetto life, childbirth, superstition, and the rampant religious persecution of the period. Hannah Levi, the best midwife in Venice, has invented "birthing spoons"--an early version of forceps--considered instruments of the devil by the Christian world. When a nobleman offers her an enormous amount of money to help his wife who is in the throes of a difficult labor, Hannah agrees, willing to violate a Papal edict so she can buy the freedom of her husband, Isaac, a slave in Malta. LaVecchia fully develops both Hannah's and Isaac's adventures, enhancing the melodramatic plot, which relies heavily on coincidence and happenstance. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

January 2, 2012
In her U.S. debut, Rich successfully captures the seedy side of 16th-century Venice—the Jewish ghetto, the plague, the confluence of religious and legal authority—but stumbles with unevenly rendered main characters. Hannah, a midwife, and Isaac Levi are Venetian Jews. Isaac, a trader, is captured at sea and held for ransom in Malta by the Knights of St. John. Hannah is legally forbidden to treat Christians, but as a healer—and a woman suddenly in need of money—she cannot refuse the request of a high-born Venetian to help his wife give birth. Though she delivers the baby safely, the infant faces mortal danger and Hannah’s involvement deepens, leaving her susceptible to charges of murder and witchcraft. To evade authorities, she must rely on her estranged sister, a courtesan. Meanwhile, Isaac languishes on Malta. His kidnappers sell him as a slave to a nun, who in turn sells him to a brutish peasant. Using his wits to survive (selling his writing skills and helping woo a beautiful woman), he escapes captivity, but his and Hannah’s harrowing efforts to reunite are stymied at every turn. Both characters demonstrate intelligence, but only Isaac comes to full life: his thoughts, feelings, humor, and behavior leap off the page. Agent: Beverly Slopen, the Beverly Slopen Agency.