I am thrilled to be able to shout out about this book today, written by the incredibly talented and wonderful Seána Tinley, also the Chair of the Romantic Novelists Association! It is The Irish Midwife, and the first in a new series. I was lucky enough to get a copy, which the lovely Seána signed for me at the recent RNA Summer Fling Event in Birmingham!
The Blurb
Can she finally put herself first, in order to find love?
Peggy Cassidy is a milly, working in the Belfast linen mills to just about get by. But Peggy also has another job – a secret one. She works as a handywoman – an illegal midwife, tending to the women of her community in their time of need.
When Peggy is offered the chance to leave Belfast to receive formal midwifery training in Dublin, it sets off a chain of events that will change her life forever.
But amongst her middle-class colleagues, Peggy must keep the truth about her past secret at all times. If the realities of her life in Belfast are revealed, she could lose everything she has worked for.
And when she meets a well-to-do doctor down in Dublin, she must make a decision: should she protect her family and her history? Or can she let herself fall in love?
The first book in a heartwarming new historical romance series, for fans of Dilly Court, Anna Jacobs, Rosie Goodwin and Call the Midwife.
Purchase Link – https://mybook.to/IrishMidwife
My Review
The Irish Midwife by Seána Tinley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I have always loved stories from the war years and thereabouts, so this was a no-brainer read for me.
I’ve never visited Ireland before, but I feel an affinity for it. I think many Indians do, as the Irish have many similarities to us in so many ways… plus, my uncle, who is a doctor, lives in Belfast. But I digress… on with the review!
Peggy is a young woman training to be a handywoman under the guidance of her very experienced aunt. Unfortunately, being a handywoman, which is akin to being an unqualified midwife, and much more, is illegal. Through a tragic twist of fate, Peggy’s aunt passes away, leaving her with a small inheritance. Her aunt’s wish is that she uses the funds to train as a proper midwife.
Peggy is from what many may call the wrong side of just about everything: a working-class family, known as a milly, as she works part-time in the mills, living in a small two-up, two-down with her large family, including her Catholic faith, and as a trainee handywoman.
But she finds herself at the prestigious Rotunda in Dublin to complete that training, and finds herself face to face with a handsome trainee doctor, who seems to have a hand in a tragic part of her past.
Dan Sheridan, or Daniel as his mother insists on calling him, is determined to do good as a medical man, like his own father, yet cannot get the midwifery student, Peggy, out of his head.
The details of childbirth, complications and celebrations, were so real, and sensitively written, and the settings were described with a depth that I could immerse myself completely in the story.
Both the main characters, Peggy and Dan, as well as the others, were written to perfection, giving the reader a genuine sense of emotion as they read the story, willing it to go one way and getting emotional when it doesn’t quite unfold as planned.
A beautifully written story, and I cannot wait to read the next one!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for an ARC.
About The Author
Seána Tinley is an Irish author of saga historical romance. She also writes regency romance as Catherine Tinley.
After a career encompassing speech and language therapy, Sure Start, being president of a charity, and managing a maternity service, she now works as NI Country Director for a leading UK charity.
Seána was appointed as chair of the Romantic Novelists’ Association in August 2024.
Social Media Links – https://lnk.bio/seanatinley
But I Smile Anyway... 