Review – The Midwives’ Escape by Maggie Anton
Synopsis
An Egyptian mother and daughter, Asenet and Shifra, a midwife and her apprentice, wake up on the morning of the tenth plague to find Asenet’s husband and son, both firstborns, dead. Asenet’s sister Pua, married to a Hebrew, urges Asenet’s family to leave Egypt with them, which they reluctantly do, along with Asenet’s wainwright father and his two apprentices. Recognizing that the Hebrew god is more powerful than any of the Egyptians’ gods, other non-Hebrews join the exodus, including Hittite and Nubian palace guards.
Once hearing and accepting God’s commandments at Mt. Sinai, these Egyptian midwives and their family join the Hebrews on their forty-year journey to The Promised Land during which they tend to the wounded, share hardship and adversity, fall in love, and start a new home and a new generation.
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Praise
“A fascinating fictional account of the journey from Egypt to the promised land from the perspective of two Egyptian midwives descended from those depicted in the first chapter of Exodus. Anton envisions vividly the daily life, crafts, and skills required for survival in the wilderness.” —Rabbi Rachel Adler, Ph.D., Professor Emerita of Modern Jewish Thought and Judaism and Gender at the Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles, author of Engendering Judaism
“This imaginative retelling of the Exodus story weaves the fabric of women’s lives—as well as the lives of those from other traditions who joined the Hebrews on their quest—into the foundational narrative of our people. In The Midwives Escape, readers can see a fuller and more inclusive picture of what might have actually happened during those times.” —Rabbi Beth Lieberman, Literary Editor and Revising Translator of The JPS Tanakh (2023)
“The biblical story of the Exodus, Wilderness wandering, and the Conquest of Canaan leave a great deal to the imagination. Maggie Anton has helped to fill in some of these narrative gaps with her fictionalized rendition of this epic story. Particularly helpful is her use of female characters to humanize the events, the struggles, the doubts, and the triumphs of the ‘mixed multitude’ that left Egypt for a new life.” —Dr. Victor H. Matthews, Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies, Missouri State University, author of Manners and Customs in the Bible
Review
I always enjoy a story that shares a perspective on what might have happened centuries ago related to the Bible. We only know so much, so it is fun to think about how events might have played out, or what other people did during those events. This book is told from the perspective of two midwives. The story provides more detail of events from Exodus, or at least what might have occurred.
This book can be enjoyed by anyone of any faith who desires a tale that shapes the people and the events surrounding Moses and their journey to the promised land. The are multiple tribes present, and it could get a little confusing trying to keep all of them straight. However, I appreciated the effort of everyone to work together and save their people from those who would wish them harm.
There are many stories that we are familiar with if you have any knowledge of the Bible. The story of Moses and the Ten Commandments, the various battles, the parting of the Red Sea, and so much more.
The book moves at a slower pace, but each character’s outlook brought a fresh voice to the story. The only thing I didn’t understand is why the author never used the word god in the book. Each time I read it, it was typed as g-d. Even goddess was missing the O. Perhaps it is a religious thing?
Overall, it was an interesting book, and we give it 3 1/2 paws.
About the Author
Maggie Anton is an award-winning author of historical fiction, as well as a Talmud scholar with expertise in Jewish women’s history. She was born Margaret Antonofsky in Los Angeles, California, where she still resides. In 1992 she joined a women’s Talmud class taught by Rachel Adler. There, to her surprise, she fell in love with Talmud, a passion that has continued unabated for over thirty years. Intrigued that the great Jewish scholar Rashi had no sons, only daughters, she started researching the family and their community.
Thus the award-winning trilogy Rashi’s Daughters was born in 2004, to be followed by National Jewish Book Award finalist, Rav Hisda’s Daughter: Apprentice and its sequel, Enchantress. Then she switched to nonfiction in 2016, winning the Gold Ben Franklin Award in the religion category for Fifty Shades of Talmud: What the First Rabbis Had to Say about You-Know What, a lighthearted in-depth tour of sexuality within the Talmud. In 2022, she returned to fiction with the Independent Publishers’ Silver Award-winning The Choice: A Novel of Love, Faith, and the Talmud, a wholly transformative novel that takes characters inspired by Chaim Potok and ages them into young adults in 1950s Brooklyn. Her latest historical novel is The Midwives’ Escape: from Egypt to Jericho, which describes the Exodus from the point of view of an Egyptian mother and daughter who join the Hebrews to follow Moses to the Promised Land.
Since 2005, Anton has lectured about the research behind her books at hundreds of venues throughout North America, Europe, and Israel. She still studies women and Talmud. You can also find her on Facebook and Goodreads. And if you liked this book, please give it a nice review at all the usual websites. Maggie has been married to David Parkhurst, her books’ illustrator, since 1970. They have two children, six grandchildren, and one cat.
