My Notorious Life

A Novel

By: Kate Manning

Narrated by: Terry Donnelly

Inspired by a real midwife who became one of the most controversial figures in Victorian New York City, this “action-packed, thought-provoking page-turner” (The New York Times) is an unforgettable tale—a love story and a family saga, featuring a charismatic and passionate woman who became a pioneer for women's rights and changed the lives of countless others.

Meet the incomparable Axie Muldoon. Axie’s story begins on the streets of 1860s New York. The impoverished child of Irish immigrants, she grows up to become one of the wealthiest and most controversial women of her day. In vivid prose, Axie recounts how she is forcibly separated from her mother and siblings, apprenticed to a doctor, and how she and her husband parlay the sale of a few bottles of “Lunar Tablets for Female Complaint” into a thriving midwifery business. Flouting convention and defying the law in the name of women’s rights, Axie rises from grim tenement rooms to the splendor of a mansion on Fifth Avenue, amassing wealth while learning over and over never to trust a man who says “trust me.”

When her services attract outraged headlines, Axie finds herself on a collision course with a crusading official—Anthony Comstock, founder of the Society for the Suppression of Vice. It will take all of Axie’s power to outwit him in the fight to preserve her freedom and everything she holds dear. Inspired by the true history of an infamous physician who was once called “the Wickedest Woman in New York,” Kate Manning is “writing in the venerable tradition of Stephen Crane…those social reformers knew that a powerful tale with memorable characters could draw us into the heat of social debates like nothing else” (The Washington Post).

A must read for 2023

This gorgeously written historical novel shines a light on an midwife and the horrors she went through to help others. Based on a real person- everyone should listen to this

Loved it!

It takes a while to get used to the narrator but once you do the story and the narration are magical.

A compelling story, but an awful reader

Would you listen to My Notorious Life again? Why?

I wouldn't listen to this again, because I couldn't stand the reader. Which is annoying, because the story was excellent.

What was one of the most memorable moments of My Notorious Life?

The descriptions of the lives of women of the time, especially lower class women, were excellent. And the medical care they received was stomach turning.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The story already has a melodramatic feel, and she takes it about three steps too far. Her voice becomes grating, and getting through the story took effort.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No

Too much

It took too long to tell a good story and belabored the characters with details. The presenters voice was more tolerable when the speed was faster.

Narrator gave me false hopes

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I liked the narrator but the middle third, as others pointed out, was pretty tedious. No big surprises, actually fairly predictable.

Would you be willing to try another book from Kate Manning? Why or why not?

I don't think so.