The Midwife's Apprentice

The Midwife's Apprentice

Infobox Book
name = The Midwife's Apprentice
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Karen Cushman
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Children's Historical Fiction
publisher = Houghton Mifflin
release_date = March 1995
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 122 pp (first edition, hardback)
isbn = ISBN 0395692296 (first edition, hardback)
preceded_by =
followed_by = "The Midwife's Apprentice" is a children's novel written by Karen Cushman set in the Middle Ages. It tells of how a homeless waif becomes a midwife's apprentice--and establishes a name and a place in the world, and learns to hope and overcome failure. It won the John Newbery Medal in 1996.

Plot summary

The story begins with a girl, known simply as Brat, who is found in a dung heap by Jane Sharp (known for her sharp nose and sharp glare), a village midwife. Jane takes in the girl and calls her Beetle. Seeing that Beetle is willing to work, Jane took her on as her apprentice, but does not voluntarily teach Beetle about midwifery for fear of competition.

As the girl stays with the ill-tempered midwife, she matures and gains confidence. Several events help her overcome her troubled, forgotten past. She is mistaken for a girl named Alyce and adopts that name. She tames a cat and learns to care for it. She befriends a little boy named Edward who is homeless, as she once was, and finds him a job and a home at the hall of a rich man.

Jane is a proud and difficult woman. She is caring for a woman in labor with the help of Alyce when word comes that a more prosperous woman is also in labor. Jane abandons the new mother to Alyce's care to attend the richer woman. Alyce successfully delivers the baby, and the grateful parents pay her instead of Jane, which angers her.

Alyce tries working as a midwife, and has some success. However, she is quickly confronted by a difficult birth, and fails. Jane sweeps in and presides over the birth, and Alyce flees. She feels she is too stupid to be a midwife, so instead finds work in an inn. When a woman with a "stomach dragon" and her husband arrive at the inn, Alyce realizes that the woman is actually in labor and successfully delivers her child . This event boosts her confidence in her skills as a midwife, encouraging her to return to the village to once again become Jane's apprentice.


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