Eleanore of Avignon

Eleanore of Avignon by Elizabeth de Lozier, 320 pages

In 1437, Eleanore is a skilled herbalist and midwife who flies below the radar, but longs to get the same medical education as men. She gets her opportunity when she meets the personal physician of Pope Clement during a chance encounter, bargaining for an apprenticeship and soon becoming indispensable as both the Black Death and a pregnant (and disgraced) Queen Joanna arrive in Avignon. Of course, the more prominent her position, the more she comes to the attention of the zealots seeking someone to blame for the epidemic sweeping through the land.

This isn't a particularly new take on the idea of intelligent, medicinal-focused women being called witches and blamed for illness, but it is a captivating tale. Eleanore and her predicament are compelling, if not entirely believable at times. Still, an interesting read worth picking up.

The Frozen River

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon, 432 pages

In the winter of 1789, the Kennebec River froze solid early, trapping a dead body in the ice near the town of Hallowell. Midwife Martha Ballard is the first to examine the dead man, who has been beaten and hanged — and given that he was also a rapist, deservedly so. However, nobody in the small town knows (or at least is willing to reveal) who killed the man and Martha doesn't trust the loose judicial system to find the real culprit, so in the course of her work around town, Martha starts her own investigation. In such a small town, it's hard to keep a secret, yet Martha manages to unearth a lot of shocking ones, including some that threaten her family's livelihood and the lives of her patients.

Martha Ballard was a real woman, an amazing midwife who managed to deliver more than a thousand babies without ever losing a mother to childbirth (quite the feat at that time!) and took meticulous notes. This book is loosely based on her life and some real events that took place in Hallowell, Maine in the late 1700s. It's masterfully told, and makes me want to learn more about Ballard. If you enjoyed the Outlander series, you'll likely dig this one too.