Midwife of the Blue Ridge

An accomplished midwife, orphan Maggie Duncan leaves 1760 Scotland at 22, in search of opportunities in the New World. She pays for her crossing with four years of indentured servitude. Aboard ship, sadistic viscount Julian Cavendish drunkenly stumbles upon Maggie attempting to grab a few moments of forbidden above deck sleep and tries to rape her. At landfall, kindly Virginia frontiersman Seth Martin, in need of Maggie's medical skills to save his ailing wife, purchases her contract. Seth's best friend, Tom Roberts, a rugged hunter, instantly catches Maggie's eye, but she hasn't seen the last of evil Julian Cavendish. Blevins doesn't soft-peddle the brutal realities of women's lot in the colonies, but she gives strong, skilled Maggie pluck and hope. (Aug.)