The Secret Midwife

By: Soraya M. Lane

Narrated by: Elizabeth Knowelden

Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

From the bestselling author of The London Girls comes a story of courage and resilience amidst the horror of Auschwitz—and one woman’s last chance to share it with the world.

London, 1995: When on the fiftieth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz a news broadcast runs an appeal for information on the identity of a midwife who saved hundreds of lives, Emilia knows it is time to finally tell her story.

Occupied Poland, 1942: Despite the constant presence of German soldiers in her village, Emilia is allowed certain freedoms as a midwife—the most precious is innocently cycling past Nazi checkpoints to the homes of expectant mothers on her rounds. But Emilia has a secret: for years she’s also been visiting the hidden Jewish mothers and working for the resistance…until she is betrayed.

Suddenly a prisoner of Auschwitz, Emilia is surrounded by horror and despair. When she is put to work as a midwife in the camp, she realises that she has a chance to bring a small glimmer of hope to the pregnant women of Auschwitz. Alongside a brave imprisoned doctor, Aleksy, and an innocent outcast, Lena, she comes up with a dangerous plan. A plan that if discovered could mean a fate far worse than death, but if they act undetected, they could save countless lives…

The Secret Midwife is a work of fiction, but inspired by many real-life accounts of the Polish resistance, the brave doctors, nurses and midwives imprisoned in the camps and those who fought to save as many lives as possible in Poland during World War II.

©2023 Soraya M. Lane (P)2023 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Everyone needs to read this.

Thank you Soraya, for writing this beautiful story. Yes, you’re right. It needed to be told. A story like this helps seat this information more firmly into the public consciousness, In so many parts of the world now this is much needed. There are many Polish Jews in my family And I give thanks to you.
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Lizzi Tremayne Author

Shocked ANYONE survived that hellhole

I got to know the characters on a personal level. Hard to listen to. What demons and people out of pits of hell could kill new born babies. Not just murder but torture in front of mother or parents. . A lot of this story will stay with me . I thank GOD I was born different time and different circumstances. You can’t say I’m safe I’m not Jewish . Look at main characters . I sure want to meet these people in heaven one day . Excellent audio. Narrator was good too

A guy-punching portrayal of Auschwitz

This book puts brutality and hope side-by-side in a way I won’t soon forget. The narrator does an adequate job, but I would have like to hear more variance with the different characters.

Wow what a story!

This book does a wonderful job of teaching the listener of exactly what people went through during the war to try and maintain a morsel of humanity during extreme barbarism. I appreciate that very much lest we forget all we owe to our forebears.

Heartbreaking

I can not believe what these poor people went through. I realize this is a fictional story. But based on things that actually happened.

Step back in time

This is a hard story to listen to, but it is steep in truth. Step by step back in time and follow the lives of breeze individuals. See the Harz of World War II through their eyes. You will learn of how strong the human will to survive is.

A most moving story

It would be hard to say that I enjoyed this book because of the subject matter. The horrors of the holocaust should never be forgotten and this book is one wonderful way to make that happen.

Truisms

I could visualize the characters and surroundings. The way it was told, I would have believed the story to be true.

A Heartbreaking Story

The most well written and important story that I've ever had to force myself to continue listening to. A large part of me did not want to understand the holocaust that intimately, I am ashamed of that. If they could endure it and some survive it and learn to live as good and kind people, then the very, very least I could do is to listen to what they had to teach me. In an extremely painful way I leaned several important lessons that i know have changed some of my previous thinking. I will never forget.

Tragic story

Hard story to read about. Lots of tragic circumstances during WW ll. There were some incredible people that survived the Holocaust.