Throughout history, the true defining feature of a good queen was whether or not she could give birth to a male heir and a spare to keep the dynasty going. No dynasty relied heavily on the pregnancy of a queen and a male heir than the Tudor dynasty of England. While we tend to focus on the women who wear the crown and give birth to the potential heir, another stands beside her during the entire process; the royal midwife. Not much attention has been given to the royal midwife until now. Brigitte Barnard explores the life of a royal midwife and her daughter who work to help Queen Katherine of Aragon in her novel, “The Tudor Queens’ Midwife.”

I want to thank The Coffee Pot Book Club and Brigitte Barnard for sending me a copy of this book. When I read the description of this book for a blog tour that I was invited to join, it was an appealing concept. I like reading novels where the royal family takes a back seat, so seeing a novel about a royal midwife was different and I wanted to read it. 

In the glittering court of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon, Sarah Menendez the midwife and her daughter Faith must deal with the dangers of childbirth. Through dealing with miscarriages and stillbirths, Sarah and Faith help the queen in any way they can. But this mother and daughter have a secret. While serving Katherine of Aragon, the Spanish Catholic queen, they are not Catholic or Protestant. They are Jews who were exiled from their native Spain after the Inquisition that was put in place due to Katherine’s mother.

Throughout this novel, we witness Sarah and Faith helping Katherine of Aragon up to the Great Matter and other noble women and working women alike. Some of the women found the joys of motherhood while others paid the ultimate sacrifice to bring new life into the world. We also get to see the bond between Sarah and Faith and how fortune’s wheel continues to turn even for normal men and women. I also enjoyed the fact that we got to experience what life might be like for a Jewish family living in England when religion was a hot topic and the Jews had been banned from England for centuries.

 I enjoyed this novel. It was a fresh take on the Tudor era in England that explores what it might have been like to be a Jewish midwife when Katherine of Aragon was queen. As a debut, I think Barnard does a good job of creating believable characters and great scenarios. I am looking forward to her next novel and I hope she continues telling the story of these midwives. If you want a novel that is full of secrecy, religious conflict, and a loving family, I would suggest you read, “The Tudor Queens’ Midwife” by Brigitte Barnard.

Blurb: 

In the glamorous, glittering, and dangerous court of King Henry VIII and his queen Katherine of Aragon, the desperate desire for a healthy male heir overshadows all. Plagued by a series of miscarriages the queen is left grappling with the weight of her singular duty to provide a son for the Crown. Amidst this turmoil, the queen turns to Sarah Menendez, the most highly skilled midwife in England. Sarah, exiled from her homeland and concealing her true identity must serve the queen and battle her deepest fears. As Sarah strives to save the queen from the perils of childbirth, the specter of her past threatens to unravel the carefully crafted identity Sarah has created for herself and her young daughter. 

  In a world where power, politics, and religion collide, Sarah finds herself entangled in a web of intrigue and deadly danger. The fate of the queen’s unborn child, the survival of the midwife and her daughter, and the stability of the kingdom hang in the balance. Sarah Menendez must employ all of her skills, cunning, and courage to protect those she holds dear as well as the life of the queen and her unborn child. 

The Tudor Queens’ Midwife is a gripping tale of secrecy, sacrifice, and religious turmoil amongst the most opulent courts the world has ever seen.  

Buy Link: 

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/4jzxyk  

Author Bio: 

Brigitte Barnard is an amateur historian of Renaissance English history and an author of the trilogy The Tudor Queens’ Midwife, of which the first book in the series is available. She is currently writing a non-fiction book about Tudor midwifery for Pen and Sword Publishing House.  

Brigitte is a former homebirth midwife, and she lives at home with her husband and four children. She also raises Cavalier King Charles Spaniels.  

Author Links: 

Website: http://thetudormidwife.com/  

Twitter: https://x.com/TheTudorMidwife  

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thetudormidwife