Suzanne: The Midwife

The 3rd Book in The Watertown Chronicles

By: Nancy Shattuck

Narrated by: Jennifer Mary Dixon

Suzanne Morse, a midwife in Watertown, moves to a remote frontier town with her husband and two children in 1666. A hands-on, practical woman who needs people, she bonds with the first two women she meets.

The minister's new wife, Abigail Willard, wants to learn Suzanne's trade. At the same time, Dancing Light, a renowned medicine woman in the Nashaway town across the river, calls her to heal her sister, dying of a white man's disease, with white medicine.

In no time, Suzanne becomes known as an effective healer among Groton settlers, and Reverend Willard certifies her, a necessity to practice in the Puritan colony. However, the friendship between Suzanne and Dancing Light—the two collaborate—arouses the town's approbation.

Abigail, too, is compromised when her servant, sixteen-year-old Elizabeth Knapp, is "bedeviled," famously accused of being a witch. Some villagers project their fears on the neighboring natives, as well as anyone who befriends Suzanne, a friend of the witch doctor. Despite her successful practice, birthing four more children, and two sisters marrying and moving to Groton, Suzanne must warily handle the rising tension in her community. It comes to a head in 1676 when King Philip's War reaches their small settlement, and in the heat of a siege, her neighbors turn on her.

©2022 Nancy Shattuck (P)2022 Nancy Shattuck

Critic reviews

"Nancy Shattuck's historical fiction opens a window onto our distant colonial past and reminds us how everyday lives sometimes become entwined with great historical events." (John Gallagher, journalist and author of The Englishman and Detroit: A British Entrepreneur Helps Restore a City's Confidence)

"A meticulous historically-based account of a traditional healer and her life in the late 1600s. Author Shattuck creates an engaging composite of a woman facing the reality of colonial life under patriarchal church leaders while practicing the womanly art of midwifery. Suzanne gains new knowledge from a Native American friend, Dancing Light. With literary skill, Shattuck weaves in the dialogue and aspects of that time while highlighting women's responsibilities and challenges in bringing their own and other children safely into the world during a time of political upheaval and distrust of Native Americans." (Vicky Young, PhD, Professor of Women's Psychology and Sexuality)

Engrossing story beautifully written and read

This is an historical novel of the Puritans and the Native Americans in the late 1600’s told through the life of a Puritan midwife. She is conflicted in that her religion believes that illnesses are the result of God’s wrath against the ill person for some transgression they must have committed. Yet she knows that severe illness can be caused by infections. She knows that these can be cured or mitigated by using medications developed from plants. She befriends a Native American healer. They exchange knowledge about medicine. Because of their friendship she is looked upon by the Puritans as an a witch and a traitor.

The story is beautifully written and is a page-turner. The reader is pitch perfect. Should be made into a mini series.