Midwife's Confession

by Diane Chamberlain

[Leah]

‘I don’t know how to tell you what I did.’ The unfinished letter is the only clue Tara and Emerson have to the reason behind Noelle’s suicide. Everything they knew about Noelle – her calling as a midwife, her passion for causes, her love for her family – described a woman who embraced life. But they didn’t know everything. Because the unaddressed letter reveals a terrible secret…and a legacy of guilt that changes everything they thought they knew about the woman who delivered their children. A legacy that will irrevocably change their own lives – and the life of a desperate stranger – forever.

Up until a few years ago, I hadn’t heard of Diane Chamberlain. According to her biography she’s written over 20 novels, but it’s only over the past two years that she’s really made her mark in the part of the World (UK/Europe). She’s had seven novels released in the UK so far, including The Midwife’s Confession, with more undoubtedly to come. I’ve only read one of Diane’s novels Breaking The Silence and I wasn’t as impressed with it as I might have been. However I have two others of Diane’s novels to read (The Lost Daughter & Before The Storm) and I was pleased to receive a copy of her new UK release The Midwife’s Confession. Despite only finding the other novel I’d read OK I was really looking forward to The Midwife’s Confession because sometimes, I do want a read that’s a bit deeper than some of the novels I usually read. I settled down to read it one warm and sunny day and it took me all of 5 hours to complete.

The cover of The Midwife’s Confession proclaims two things: That Diane Chamberlain gets to the heart of every story and that she is ‘just as good as Jodi Picoult’. Those are two pretty bold statements, but I absolutely agree with them. I can see why Chamberlain is likened to Picoult, but they’re not direct comparisons to each other but Diane Chamberlain is indeed as good as Jodi. And, boy, does she get to the heart of her story. I’m typing this review about 10 minutes after finishing and I feel wrung out emotionally. I space out my reading of novels like these, mainly because if done right they do affect me. The Midwife’s Confession is a hard read and, as usual, Diane asks a lot of brilliant questions. Diane Chamberlain is the mistress of writing a novel about families that truly make you feel part of it. Whilst reading the novel, I didn’t want to put it down because I wanted to know more. I wanted to make sure everything would somehow turn out OK in the end.

You have to really pay attention whilst reading The Midwife’s Confession as there is a lot thrown at us. The plot is so utterly complex that at times I had to re-read the page to make sure that what I was computing through my brain was indeed correct. I still don’t think I’ve comprehended it all. On the basis of it, the novel seems simple. Noelle, a midwife and best friend of Tara and Emerson, kills herself and Tara and Emerson want to find out why. Of course they do, because it came out of the blue. But as the revelations mount up, Noelle’s life is nothing like they’d imagined. Even I was stunned. Just when I got over the first whammy we’d learned about Noelle, another one followed hot on its heels and another and another and although I did think ‘Can this all really be true?’, it never seemed contrived. I never said to myself ‘Come on, this is insane’. It just goes to show that even your best friends don’t tell you everything.

I truly felt for all of the characters, Diane Chamberlain truly makes you feel as if they’re your best friends. I felt part of the story, I felt pulled into their world in North Carolina. The actions of the characters kept me gripped even more than the story, I think. I mean, Jesus, how do you learn that your best friend was practically a total stranger? It has to be said, I thought both Emerson and Tara dealt with it brilliantly. Their shock and their horror was presented perfectly in tune with their inability to think of their best friend that way. If it was me, I’d faint in shock, but Tara and Emerson are determined to find out the truth and I thought it was admirable. Despite the fact that Noelle dies so early in the novel, I did still truly get a feel for this woman. I was shocked, I was horrified, but in a way I could understand it all. Every last bit of what Noelle did in her life made sense. That’s not to say I agreed with it, but I understood it right down to her decision to kill herself. I’m the kind of person who can see both sides of the story and no matter Noelle did, I could see the reasoning behind it. She wasn’t intentionally cruel.

I will freely admit, I knew exactly what Noelle had done. Or at least I had an idea, which crystallised the more I read. I knew before the characters knew, which normally I hate – there’s nothing worse than knowing what’s going to happen before the character realise, but Diane Chamberlain writes it in such a rich and absorbing way that I didn’t care that I already knew and I was still shocked when it all came out anyway. This book refused to let me go, from the very first page. I needed to know how everyone learnt what Noelle had done. I needed to see their reactions, despite the fact I already knew what Noelle had done. The revelations of Noelle may be over the top for some, but for me I didn’t see it that way. I was far too busy waiting for the next one and to see how it all panned out to wonder if the novel could really happen in real life though, really, the novel is fiction so Diane could do anything she wanted if she wanted to. The novel scrambled my brain and it’s a truly riveting read. I mean, wow. Diane has firmly found her way into my heart and I’m avidly waiting for her next novel and I will be reading her previous books, as well. She’s a stunning storyteller. Just stunning.