WANTED: Midwife Bride

by Kristin Holt

Can you imagine living in a time when doctors and accredited midwives were a rare commodity in the Old West? Picture an era when a few doctors hung their shingles and practiced medicine in dusty western settlements but virtually all hospitals were still on the east coast or in metropolises such as Chicago. Many such towns didn't have a doctor and any "doctoring" happened by the most experienced; cowboys generally knew how to manage treatable injuries (do a fair job of setting broken bones and stitching shut slashes caused by barbed wire). Women banded together to assist one another through childbirth. People toughed it out. A lot of folks died.

I'm so excited about this new book...

I'm giving away a copy!

Read on!

I'm an amateur historian, and a Registered Nurse. I have the utmost respect for physicians practicing medicine in the nineteenth century. Significant breakthroughs had occurred that made a lot of difference, but these brave pioneers still were forced to rely on their own knowledge, their eyes and ears and rudimentary tools to diagnose and to treat. Today's physicians have it comparatively easy with blood tests and CT-scans and state-of-the-art surgical suites. I wonder what would happen if a doctor from the late 19th century was transported forward to today's medical world--what would he think? But I digress... that's a story for another book.

When preparing to write my new release, WANTED: Midwife Bride (contained within Mail Order Bride: A Timeless Romance Anthology), I already knew exactly who my hero would be: Joseph Chandler, MD. In a familiar-to-me frontier town of Evanston, Wyoming Territory (1888). It didn't take long for me to realize why Doc Joe would send for a bride-- not only was he lonely and ready for the next stage in live ("conjugal felicity" which simply means marital happiness and a phrase most common in U.S. newspapers and publications of the day), but he needed help.

In 1888, Evanston (a very real place) was a bustling railroad town with all the expected medical challenges: nearby mines with typical miner's problems with their lungs and injuries and cave-ins, Chinese immigrants working for the railroad, railway injuries (everything from crushed fingers when coupling cars to derailments), births, deaths, and all of life in-between. Having driven past the long-closed Wyoming State Hospital in Evanston, I could easily picture the grand campus in relation to Front Street and the original rail depot.

The Wyoming State Hospital, originally called the Wyoming Insane Asylum, opened in 1889.

The first building at the Wyoming State Hospital, originally called the Wyoming Insane Asylum, opened in 1889 and burned down in 1917. Uinta County Museum. - See more at: http://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/wyoming-state-hospital#sthash.2zoxNGoE.dpuf

I could easily believe Doc Joe (my fictional hero) would have a hard time finding a qualified business partner to help him with his practice, especially with the Wyoming Territorial Government hiring every willing doctor and nurse to work in the large state hospital to open the following year. At the time of my story, the hospital was under construction and the superintendent, Dr. William A. Hocker, MD, of Evanston was also in charge of construction that began the month my heroine (Dr. Naomi Fairchild Thornton, MD) stepped off the train more than two thousand miles from her point of origin in New York City.

Doc Joe needed someone--anyone--who could help him in saving lives. Using the best means available to him at the time, he placed an advertisement for a trained midwife in (my fictional periodical) Midwifery Circular, in hopes of finding a bride who wouldn't faint at the sight of blood. He wanted a bride to fill the vacancy in his life and in his heart, and banked a lot on his plan to install her as a productive helpmate within his medical practice. 

 WANTED: Midwife Bride

Frontier town bachelor doctor, age 30, seeks experienced midwife for business partner and marriage. Must be pleasant, cooperative, companionable, and prepared for long hours. Midwifery training and experience more important than age. Prefer age 35 or younger, as children are desired.

Reply to Doc Joe, Evanston, Wyoming Territory.

When he meets Naomi, she has solid reasons to withhold the entirety of her education, after all, she can safely deliver babies...and when Doc Joe learns his bride-to-be is a medical doctor, he's elated...but she doesn't know that (yet) and is certain he'll send her away. She knows he will. Not only has everything in her life and training to that point convinced her all men see female physicians as an abomination, but that was the consensus throughout the United States in that era.

I had a bit too much fun throwing Joe and Naomi together and watching the sparks fly. The entire anthology, including my novella, is "sweet" (wholesome, clean, "proper") romance.

 

BLURB:

Dr. Naomi Thornton thinks she has it all: a beautiful house, a loving husband, and a fulfilling career. But when everything she holds dear is ripped away, Naomi has no choice but to start over. What will she find in the wild and untamed Wyoming Territory? Dr. Joe Chandler has waited years for a wife with the knowledge, skills, and tender heart he yearns for in a medical colleague and lifetime companion. When a midwife arrives with more expertise and secrets than he counted on, Joe quickly discovers there’s more to love and marriage than a simple mail order contract.

My story, WANTED: Midwife Bride is just one of six short novellas (15K words or less) contained within the box set Mail Order Bride: A Timeless Romance Anthology. The whole set of six short novellas runs 322 pages according to Amazon. The set will be available on all major eBook retailers' websites on release day: 2-9-16. As of today, the book is available for preorder on Amazon and may be read on any kindle or virtually any device with the kindle app. This title is available in eBook format only (for at least six months), is published by Mirror Press, and this title is #16 in the Amazon #1-ranked series in Clean Romance.

I'm giving away one free KINDLE edition of this title, to be delivered via email (through Amazon) on the morning of 2-9-16--release day! (It's not possible to buy a copy as a gift until then). The drawing for one free (my gift to you) copy closes tonight (2-5-16) at midnight PST. All you need to do to enter this drawing is to COMMENT and state one thing you enjoy about Mail Order Bride Romances. (After all, given the prize, why enter if you don't like this kind of book?)

The winner will be announced, also in the comments section, tomorrow morning 2-6-16, by 8 AM PST. You may do well to check the box "notify me" so you're aware if YOU are the lucky winner when I post the name I draw. The winner must be willing to provide their email address to me, Kristin Holt, in order to receive their gift copy of this $4.99-value anthology.

For a SECOND CHANCE TO WIN, please revisit Sweet Americana Sweethearts Blog (right here!) next Tuesday, when this box set enjoys a turn on the Blog Tour Tuesday stage, with more of a focus on the entire anthology...and ONE MORE lucky winner will take home a FREE copy of this $4.99 set! (If YOU win and already own this title, the $4.99 e-gift will be easily substituted on Amazon for anything else...so don't hesitate. Pick up this title! It's sure to please selective readers who enjoy sweet/wholesome western historical romance.)

Add This Title to your WANT TO READ List on Goodreads

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Please stop in at www.KristinHolt.com for frequent fresh articles (blog posts) about all things nineteenth century with special focus on the Victorian American West.

My current series of articles are about the TRUTH (and historical accuracy/inaccuracy) behind the popular Mail Order Bride-Trope in Romance Fiction:

Nineteenth Century Mail-Order Bride SCAMS (posts 2-8-16)

NEWSPAPER Brides vs. Mail-Order Brides (NEW today! 2-5-16)

Mail-Order Catalogs: Timeline and Truth

 Mail-Order Catalogs and the Old West

Copyright © 2016 Kristin Holt, LC