The midwife of Venice. Midwife (1)

Hannah Levi is renowned throughout Venice for her gift at coaxing reluctant babies from their mothers—a gift aided by the secret “birthing spoons” she designed. But when a count implores her to attend to his wife, who has been laboring for days to give birth to their firstborn son, Hannah is torn. A Papal edict forbids Jews from rendering medical treatment to Christians, but the payment he offers is enough to ransom her beloved husband, Isaac, who has been captured at sea. Can Hannah refuse her duty to a suffering woman? Hannah’s choice entangles her in a treacherous family rivalry that endangers the baby and threatens her voyage to Malta, where Isaac, believing her dead in the plague, is preparing to buy his passage to a new life. Not since The Red Tent or People of the Book has a novel transported readers so intimately into the complex lives of women centuries ago or so richly into a story of intrigue that transcends the boundaries of history. "Hannah Levi is known throughout sixteenth-century Venice for her skill in midwifery. But when a Christian nobleman appears at her door in the Jewish ghetto imploring her to help his wife who is dying in childbirth, 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. Yet Hannah finds she cannot refuse the chance to make more money than she's ever seen in her whole life. With such a handsome sum, she could save her husband, Issaac, who months earlier was captured at sea and forced into slavery in Malta by the Knights of St. John. Aided by her forbidden "birthing spoons"--Rudimentary forceps she invented to coax reluctant babies out of their mothers' wombs - Hannah agrees to assist the nobleman and attend to his ailing wife and child. Will she be able to save the mother and the baby? And if she does, will she also be able to save herself? Woven throughout Hannah's travails in Venice is the story of Isaac and his life as a slave in Malta. Fearing that Hannah has perished in plague, he pins whatever hopes he has of returning home to her on his talent for writing love letters that melt even the hardest of hearts"-- "Hannah Levi is renowned throughout Venice for her gift at coaxing reluctant babies from their mothers--a gift aided by the secret "birthing spoons" she designed. But when a count implores her to attend to his wife, who has been laboring for days to give birth to their firstborn son, Hannah is torn. A Papal edict forbids Jews from rendering medical tratment to Christians, but the payment he offers is enough to ransom her beloved husband, Isaac, who has been captured at sea"--Page 4 of cover Hannah Levi is renowned throughout Venice for her gift as a midwife, but when a count implores her to attend to his wife, who has been laboring for days to give bith to their firstborn son, Hannah is torn, because a Papal edit forbids Jews from rendering medical care to Christians, but the money would be enough to ransom her husband who has been captured at sea