In THE BOOK OF THE UNNAMED MIDWIFE, a fever has wiped out most of humanity, killing virtually all women and children and making childbirth impossible to survive. A midwife miraculously survives and must make her way in this new world, making and breaking alliances while dressing as a man to protect herself from slavers and others who may harm her. She never gives her real name, and the eventually reborn society knows her from her journals as the Unnamed Midwife.

Dystopia from a feminist perspective is rather surprisingly uncommon. Note though that I did not say this book envisions a feminist utopia - rather, it envisions a world where gangs of men keep the few remaining women as toys, where birth control is a top commodity and dressing as a man keeps you safe. I don’t think I’ve ever read a post-apocalypse book where the protagonist ensures she’s carrying enough tampons, and it’s weirdly refreshing.

The regular novelistic narrative is interspersed with excerpts from the midwife’s journals, which are choppy and brief. I found the entries kind of annoying to read, but I also appreciate that we’re not pretending our non-writer barely surviving protagonist is able to capture full conversations verbatim or make beautiful analogies and metaphors. However, I do think the book would have worked just fine without the actual journal entries.

Due to the inclusion of these entries, the book was a bit meandering and repetitive at times. Probably true to how post-apocalypse life would be like, but not particularly gripping. I did appreciate the low key way her bisexuality was slipped in there, and how so many people became more fluid after the plague.

I think if you liked SEVERANCE but wished it was grittier, this is the book for you. I don’t think I’ll seek out the sequels, but maybe I’d read them if I come across them.