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The Last Midwife

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The Last Midwife

By: Karen Lawrence
Narrated by: Charlie Sanderson
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About this listen

Feminist dystopian thrillers have been hitting eerily close to reality lately, and The Last Midwife brings that discomfort home.

‘I’m going to snuff out the old witches–every last one of them!’

Childbirth in England is a state-controlled procedure. Midwives have been outlawed for decades. Only a handful remain, risking everything to help mothers give birth in secret, but now their very existence is under threat.

When young nurse Chiara arrives from Sicily, her dreams are quickly shattered by the horrifying truth behind the pristine walls of the Genesis Centre. Meanwhile, Rava, the privileged wife of a government official, finds her perfect life unravelling when her pregnancy fails to meet her husband’s requirements.

Their worlds collide in a desperate fight for life, choice, and humanity against a system determined to control the future, one baby at a time.

©2025 Karen Lawrence (P)2026 Karen Lawrence Dystopian Genre Fiction Medical Science Fiction Thriller & Suspense Marriage Sexual Health Pregnancy Midwife
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Excellent plot with engaging characters. I listen to books while I run and this one made me go for more runs to know what happened

Excellent plot with engaging characters.

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This book is totally amazing especially for a first proper novel. The plot is complex enough to keep you gripped but not to complex to make you loose interest. I love the odd bit of old healing lore along the way, and the realisisation that Wise Women have known what to do well before the process of giving birth became medicalised. The voice actor really helps bring all the characters to life. She helps draw you in, into characters that each one of us can identify with and probably know people like. Karen you have written an amazing book and I am really looking forward to the sequel.

Well written and well read

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An amazing story, very hard to put down (well click pause) the world building and characters drew me in. A scarily believable world that I would love to know more about! I think that this novel touches on some the most pressing issues of our time!
The voice actor was amazing, convincing and natural accents, Charlie really helps the listener get into the world.

Gripping dystopia with amazing voice actor

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