The Midwife's Secret

A missing girl, an accused woman and a family secret in this gripping, heartbreaking historical fiction

By: Emily Gunnis

Narrated by: Gemma Whelan

Length: 10 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

From the author of global best seller The Girl in the Letter, a gripping, powerful and heartbreaking new novel of two families and the devastating secret that binds them....

1969. On New Year's Eve, while the Hiltons of Yew Tree Manor prepare to host the party of the season, their little girl disappears. Suspicion falls on Bobby James, a young farmhand and the last person to see Alice before she vanished. Bobby protests his innocence, but he is sent away. Alice is never found.

Present day Architect Willow James is working on a development at Yew Tree when she discovers the land holds a secret. As she begins to dig deep into the past, she uncovers a web of injustice. And when another child goes missing, Willow knows the only way to stop history repeating itself is to right a terrible wrong.

For decades the fates of the Hilton and James families have been entwined in the grounds of Yew Tree Manor. It all began with a midwife's secret, long buried but if uncovered could save them from the bitter tragedy that binds them. And prove the key that will free them all....

©2021 Emily Gunnis Ltd (P)2021 Headline Publishing Group Ltd

Critic reviews

"A hugely addictive story...full of twists, turns, class divides, betrayal and deceit."(Heat magazine)

"Emily Gunnis weaves a gripping story." (Woman & Home)

Beautiful…Poignant

What stellar storytelling! This book was touching from start to finish. It really shines a light on the injustices from the past toward women, the poor, children…as a warning I will tell you that there is some animal cruelty and with a farm in the story there is some animal death. None of the animal cruelty is gratuitous, but rather the times and circumstances its to be expected.
I’m very sensitive about animals and i was saddened but there was also child abuse and abuse to women all necessary for the narrative to work.
There is jumping back and forth in time i had no trouble keeping up but some might.
The narration was excellent. I really can’t think of any negatives about this wonderful book. It broke a long dry spell of stinkers which always makes me enjoy the book just that much more.
I recommend the book for those who like historical fiction and can deal with heart wrenching situations.

Animal abuse

Too many animals dying/killed. Story timelines and characters could have been developed without such descriptive killing of animals. Yes it happened and happens but I don’t enjoy it in my books.

Thoroughly enjoyed this

I loved this book. So many stories wound together but created such a beautiful tale. My heart ached for so many of the characters.

I could see it coming a mile Away

This is an interesting story, but the mysteries were all so well telegraphed, but I almost put the book down about halfway through. It was quickly obvious that Leo was a psychopath or at least had something to do with Alice’s disappearance. . The search for her aunt Nell was so unnecessary. Although, the trip to the TB ward and connecting with parents who lost their daughter was interesting. It is still very sad to see how money talks and can destroy the lives of so many people.

Unexpected gem

Sweet characters and charming tales but some unexpected twists. Took some effort to figure out the switches on dates but quickly fell into a groove with the story. Loved this read!

Wow!

A fabulous book. Although it starts a little slowly, it picks up steam quickly. Narration was perfect.

Wonderful read!

It took a minute to learn the characters and the method of storytelling, but once all characters were presented I couldn’t stop listening! Wonderful read!

Incredible!!

This book is so interesting!! I loved every part of it and the reader did such a good job. Definitely get this book and listen to it!

Lots of characters

It took me a while to get into this one, and I may have been able to get into it faster had I been reading it. But the first several chapters were kind of a blur for me because there were so many characters to try to keep track of that I was sort of lost as to who belong to what family. I persisted on and kind of just winged it throughout the large part of the book and got the gist of it in the end, only because I didn’t want to go back and listen to for several hours of the book. It was a good story, the narrator was fantastic, but it wouldn’t be one that I would rush out to recommend to anyone. I tend to be into books that are more suspenseful and call me back to listen to more even when I don’t have time to do it! This was just not one of those.

Brilliant

I throughly enjoyed this book . A little bit hard to sort out the characters for the first two chapters . Persevere. Such a worthwhile listen . The narrator was brilliant . The storyline was brilliant. I am now looking for another book by this Author .

Heartbreaking.

This was a new author for me. I was attracted to the title and cover. I loved listening from the very start and soon became captivated by the story. I loved the fact that it switched from 1945 to 1969 then present day, whilst the story of five generations of one family fought to claim their inheritance of an old house which held many secrets. The story was filled with sadness and intrigue,I just had to keep listening until I finished it! The narration was very good,,however I did not like the fact that when noises happened throughout ,such as the click of a key, a door banging or the yapping of a dog, these were spoken! To me I would have much preferred an actual noise.I think it is much more atmospheric and realistic to include background noises and music on an audible.In fact, I wish every audible would begin with music as television programmes do, appropriate to the story.That would be good!

Families! Who'd have them?

This page-turner skips through three generations weaving a tale of misjustice, lies and deceit. With every page, you understand more about a small child named Alice, who goes missing one New Years Eve.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would certainly recommend this to fellow crime lovers.

Wow so good

I loved this story. It definitely had me gripped once you get used to the going back and forth from past to present. It was a brilliant listen

Fantastic!!

What a great story… and so well read! Many congratulations to both the author and narrator.. I thoroughly recommend this book!

A sad intriguing story

I loved this story! As a nurse I relished the history of the midwife and the struggles they faced giving care to women and babies in a male dominated world.
The story itself is intriguing and I found it difficult to keep up at times. During the course of the story telling snd as the plot unfurls over several time frames you discover how the lives of the characters are entwined and how many of them are related. Many times I had to hit pause whilst I stopped to draw a mental family tree!
That sad the plot is clever with twists snd surprises along the way. And sad.
The narration was excellent.
Would recommend to fans of family saga snd historical fiction.

Good storyline, let down by characters

Confusing for a while with three time frames running simultaneously. Came very close to needing to draw up a family tree.

Good story, good narration, but the characters were too one-dimensional.

Engaging up to the final credits

One of those listens that you put on every 5 mins, like when unloading the dish washer to find out what’s happening next. A great choice and highly recommend

The Midwife’s Secret

I am used to listening to dual timeline stories but this one had three. At first I got a little confused but that soon settled and I really enjoyed this story. The narration was very good and clear to understand. I have now discovered another favourite author.

Great story; great narration

Absolutely loved the narrator and listened to this book over a couple of days. I loved the intertwining plot and the different characters. I’ll definitely listen to another book read by Gemma Whelan and written by this author.

Promising but didn't really deliver.

Maybe I'm being unfair as I wouldn't usually read a book like this but I was drawn in by the description. It was a nice book but I was hoping there would be some surprises along the way. Fans of Rosie Goodwin etc will be in for a treat