The Midwife

Petersheim, J. (2014). The Midwife. Carol Stream, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers.

Well, Jolina has done it again.  Since I finished The Outcast, I have been waiting for her sophomore novel, The Midwife.  She did not disappoint.  Once again, Jolina (I will always refer to this author by her first name since she is a friend of mine) enters the Tennessean Mennonite community as the backdrop for The Midwife.  Like The Outcast, Jolina takes on multiple personas to create a story that is told from the mid 1990's and today.  

The narrators include Roda--the head midwife at Hopen House, a place for young unwed mothers who is keeping a long and dark secret--Beth--a graduate assistant, who is a surrogate for her professor and narrates from the past--and Amelia--a teenager who is the newest resident at Hopen House with an undiscovered past of her own.  Each narrator has a distinct and independent voice.

The Outcast

Petersheim, J. (2013). The Outcast. Carol Stream, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers. 

I have the pleasure of personally knowing the author of the debut novel The Outcast. I had many, many classes with Jolina Petersheim, before she married and become a published author. Once upon a time I was an editor of my college newspaper and Jolina was a writer. Now, I'm not sure how I feel about editing such a talented writer's work.

All joking aside, The Outcast is a wonderful first novel for Jolina. It is subtitled "A modern reselling of The Scarlet Letter."  Yet, while Jolina's novel has a basis and allusions to the American classic, The Outcast stands on its own without the endorsement.