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The Midwife's Apprentice

The Midwife's Apprentice is a 1996 adolescent novel by author Karen Cushman. The Midwife’s apprentice won the john Newberry medal in 1996.

Plot Set in England, in the fourteenth century, a homeless girl with no name to call hers, but the names that people describe her such as brat, and dung beetle sleeps in a dung heap. Her only means of survival was helping out in the village in exchange for a place to sleep and eat, and sometimes when that didn’t work she had to steal to fulfill her starvation. One day, as she endured her usual bullying from the boys in the village, a woman named Jane came to her aide her only because it happened to be along the path of where she was headed. When the boys ran off and she saw the little girl was okay she continued on her way. But the homeless girl (Brat), due to her rumbling stomach, was bold enough to beg Jane for some food. Jane, who was filled with greed and cruelty in her heart, saw this as weakness and a way to use this to her advantage. She took her under her wing and made use of her by giving her chores. Jane was the only midwife in the village, so it wasn’t long before brat was declared the midwife’s apprentice.

Brat has encountered and experienced many things while being the midwife’s apprentice. She befriended the midwife’s cat, which se was originally scared of. After brat saved the cat from partially being tortured by the boys in the village, the cat took a liking to brat. She gave the cat a name along with a name for herself, due to a stranger mistakenly thinking she was a girl name Alyce. From that point on, she wanted to be called Alyce and wanted the world to know it.

Alyce was unconsciously becoming more knowledgeable and skilled with time. Unbeknownst to the midwife, she saved one of the village boys named Will Russet from drowning after they tried to chase her while being drunk. After she saved him, he was amazed and praised her for not running off like his friends did. He acknowledged her as Alyce instead of brat to show respect of the name she gave herself and wanted to be called. Sometime later, she gave Will a hand with helping his cow give birth to twin calves.

The Midwife, who was filled with greed, tried to leave Alyce with the bailiff’s wife, who was having a hard time giving birth so she can tend to another who was delivering a baby and offering more money. She figured she could get double the earnings by doing this. While she was tending to the other family, Alyce soothed her in the way she could based on the little that she seen the midwife perform. Sometime after, a baby girl, feet first, were born and they named her Alyce little. The midwife returned to the cottage with excuses on why she left was expected a fee for her “services”, but was denied. This made the midwife jealous and angry, but gave Alyce pride and joy. From this point on, she paid close attention to the midwife when she helped mothers in the village give birth to their children. Sometime later, the bailiff’s wife’s sister’s son came to the midwife’s doorstep because his mom was having another baby. He came for Alyce instead of the midwife, stating his mom heard how good she was delivering Alyce little. The midwife, distraught and angered, told her to go with them. When Alyce went in to try to help deliver the baby, she tried to do all the procedures she saw the midwife perform, but nothing seemed to work. After finally realizing she was in over her head, she sent Matthew, the son of the mother giving birth, to go get the midwife. When the midwife came, took over, and delivered the baby, Alyce felt like a disappointment and a failure. There after, her and the cat ran away from the village.