THE MIDWIFE OF VENICE

It’s one crisis after another for a 16th-century Italian-Jewish midwife and her merchant husband struggling to be reunited.

Religious persecution, sexism, pestilence and murderous, scheming siblings are just a few of the hurdles confronting Hannah Levi and her husband Isaac in Canadian-based Rich’s cliffhanger-strewn debut. Key events have happened before the story opens, giving the novel the feel of a sequel: Isaac, who gambled his fortune on a shipment of silk, was captured by mercenaries and is now a slave in Malta; Hannah’s sister, a convert to Christianity, is working as a courtesan; and Hannah herself has become "the best midwife in Venice, Christian or Jew," having invented forceps, the use of which risks accusations of witchcraft. When a Christian nobleman implores Hannah to help deliver his son and heir, she does so in defiance of her rabbi in order to raise Isaac’s ransom money. The baby is born, but the forceps are stolen by the nobleman’s wicked brother from whom she must also rescue the kidnapped child before masquerading as a plague victim to avoid further threats. Meanwhile, in alternate chapters, Isaac is being starved and beaten in Malta where, after multiple plot twists, the story screeches to a breathless halt.

Overstuffed is an understatement for this heavily researched but lightweight historical adventure.