A KILLER PLOT

Awards & Accolades Likes 74 Our Verdict GET IT Kirkus Reviews' Best Books Of 2023 by Ariel Lawhon ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 5, 2023 A vivid, exciting page-turner from one of our most interesting authors of historical fiction. Awards & Accolades Likes 74 Our Verdict GET IT Kirkus Reviews' Best Books Of 2023 When a man accused of rape turns up dead, an Early American town seeks justice amid rumors and controversy. Lawhon’s fifth work of historical fiction is inspired by the true story and diaries of midwife Martha Ballard of Hallowell, Maine, a character she brings to life brilliantly here. As Martha tells her patient in an opening chapter set in 1789, “You need not fear….In all my years attending women in childbirth, I have never lost a mother.” This track record grows in numerous compelling scenes of labor and delivery, particularly one in which Martha has to clean up after the mistakes of a pompous doctor educated at Harvard, one of her nemeses in a town that roils with gossip and disrespect for women’s abilities. Supposedly, the only time a midwife can testify in court is regarding paternity when a woman gives birth out of wedlock—but Martha also takes the witness stand in the...