Interesting to Read

Dora, the main character in this book, like one of the main characters in the last book I read, (The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society), is an unlikely connoisseur of literature. Both of these people were born and live in a back water and were discouraged by education, economics and lifestyle to appreciate good writing. Yet, both quickly acquired a taste for reading and literature. Both books have a back drop of a war - WW1/WW2. Both characters exhibit quiet, inner strength and tenacity in the face of adversity.



This, however, is the only similarity between these books. Set on the Bay of Fundy during the First World War, The Birth House captures the touch and feel of the early twentieth century in the Maritimes. One example of this is when Dora's aunt tells her mother to take away the books Dora was reading because they would drive her crazy. (I was told in my time that too much reading would lead to blindness.)



Besides being a very interesting story - although I am not quite finished reading it- there is the push and pull of herbs and folk medicine versus science and modern medicine. It reminds us of how much traditional cures are an integral part of our culture.

Most of all, though, this book allows us to understand how our mothers and grandmothers coped with all of the limitations they encountered.