소장자료검색

책소개

갑작스런 눈 폭풍이 몰아치는 겨울 밤, 버몬트 산골 외딴 집에 고립된 시빌 댄포스라는 이름의 노련한 산파는 아기의 목숨을 구하기 위해 절망적인 선택을 하게 된다. 산모가 발작을 일으켜 죽은 것으로 단정하고 긴급 제왕절개를 단행한 것이다. 하지만 산모가 죽은 것이 아니었다면, 과연 그녀는 부주의로 인한 살인을 저지른 것인가?

엄마가 죽어야 아기가 태어난다. 아니면 둘 다 죽는다. 의식 잃은 산모의 배를 갈라 태아를 구한 히피 출신 산파에게 쏟아지는 세상의 찬사와 아슬아슬한 법정 공방.

"Superbly crafted and astonishingly powerful. . . . It will thrill readers who cherish their worn copies of To Kill A Mockingbird." --People

With a suspense, lyricism, and moral complexity that recall To Kill a Mockingbird and Presumed Innocent, this compulsively readable novel explores what happens when a woman who has devoted herself to ushering life into the world finds herself charged with responsibility in a patient's tragic death.

The time is 1981, and Sibyl Danforth has been a dedicated midwife in the rural community of Reddington, Vermont, for fifteen years. But one treacherous winter night, in a house isolated by icy roads and failed telephone lines, Sibyl takes desperate measures to save a baby's life. She performs an emergency Caesarean section on its mother, who appears to have died in labor. But what if--as Sibyl's assistant later charges--the patient wasn't already dead, and it was Sibyl who inadvertently killed her?

As recounted by Sibyl's precocious fourteen-year-old daughter, Connie, the ensuing trial bears the earmarks of a witch hunt except for the fact that all its participants are acting from the highest motives--and the defendant increasingly appears to be guilty. As Sibyl Danforth faces the antagonism of the law, the hostility of traditional doctors, and the accusations of her own conscience, Midwives engages, moves, and transfixes us as only the very best novels ever do.

목차

아홉 권의 소설을 발표했다. 그의 작품은 17개 언어로 번역되어 20여 개 나라에서 출판되었다. 『미드와이브스』는 뉴욕타임스 베스트셀러 1위와 오프라 북클럽 추천도서로 선정되었고 『외야석을 지나』와 함께 영화로도 만들어졌다. 2002년에는 '뉴잉글랜드 북 어워드'를 수상했다. 『수상 마녀』『버팔로 병사』『트랜스 시스터 라디오』등의 작품이 있고, 리더스 다이제스트와 보스턴 글로브, 벌링턴 프레스 등 여러 잡지와 신문에 작품을 발표하고 있다. 버몬트 주 링컨에서 사진작가인 아내 빅토리아 블루어와 딸 그레이스와 함께 살고 있다.

Chris Bohjalian is the author of four previous novels, including Water Witches and Past the Bleachers, which became a Hallmark Hall of Fame film. He is a contributor to numerous publications, including Reader's Digest, Boston Sunday Globe Magazine, and Burlington Free Press, for which he has been a columnist since 1992. He lives in Lincoln, Vermont, with his wife, photographer Victoria Bluer, and their daughter, Grace. His latest novel, The Law of Similars, will be published in hardcover by Harmony Books and in audio by Random House AudioBooks in January 1999.