The Midwife's Apprentice
| Author | Karen Cushman |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Children's Historical Fiction |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
Publication date | March 1995 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 122 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0395692296 (first edition, hardback) Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
The Midwife's Apprentice is a children's novel written by Karen Cushman set in the Middle Ages. It tells of how a homeless waif becomes a midwife's apprentice--and establishes a name and a place in the world, and learns to hope and overcome failure. It won the John Newbery Medal in 1996.
Plot summary
The story begins with a girl, known simply as Brat, who is found in a dung heap by Jane, a village midwife. Jane takes in the girl and calls her Beetle. Seeing that Beetle is willing to work, Jane took her on as her apprentice, but does not voluntarily teach Beetle about midwifery for fear of competition.
As the girl stays with the ill-tempered midwife, she matures and gains confidence. Several events help her overcome her troubled, forgotten past. She is mistaken for a girl named Alyce and adopts that name. She tames a cat and learns to care for it. She befriends a little boy named Edward who is homeless, as she once was, and finds him a job and a home at the hall of a rich man.
Jane is a proud and difficult woman. She is caring for a woman in labor with the help of Alyce when word comes that a more prosperous woman is also in labor. Jane abandons the new mother to Alyce's care to attend the richer woman. Alyce successfully delivers the baby, and the grateful parents pay her instead of Jane, which angered her.
Alyce tries working as a midwife, and has some success. However, she is quickly confronted by a difficult birth, and fails. Jane sweeps in and presides over the birth, and Alyce flees. She feels she is too stupid to be a midwife, so instead finds work in an inn. After some time, one of the guests goes into labor, Alyce helps her give birth to a baby they named Freylia.