The Popish Midwife

In seventeenth-century London, thirteen years after the plague and twelve years after the Great Fire, the restoration of King Charles II has dulled the memory of Cromwell's puritan rule, yet fear and suspicion are rife. Religious turmoil is rarely far from tipping the scales into hysteria.Elizabeth Cellier, a bold and outspoken midwife, regularly visits Newgate Prison to distribute alms to victims of religious persecution. There she falls in with the charming Captain Willoughby, a debtor, whom she enlists to gather information about crimes against prisoners, so she might involve herself in petitioning the king in their name.''Tis a plot, Madam, of the direst sort.' With these whispered words Willoughby draws Elizabeth unwittingly into the infamous Popish Plot and soon not even the fearful warnings of her husband, Pierre, can loosen her bond with it.This is the incredible true story of one woman ahead of her time and her fight against prejudice and injustice.

Elizabeth Cellier, the scandalous celebrity known as the 'Popish midwife', became the focus of a large number of pamphlets in 1680: accounts of her two trials, her self-vindication, Malice Defeated, her opponent Thomas Dangerfield's rejoinder, and various anonymous satiric attacks against her. She was tried twice: the first time for the more serious charge of treason, and the second for libel, for publishing Malice Defeated. She was acquitted the first time, but found guilty the second, though her punishment was to be pilloried, not executed. She reemerges as the author of tracts on midwifery, proposing to James II the establishment of a professional guild of midwives. Her writings exhibit her remarkable determination to publish her accusations of judicial torture and her advocacy of the licensing of midwives as professional women, as well as exemplifying the importance of the printing press for enabling women to participate in the political public sphere.

London, England. 1679. When a maid becomes the focus of ghostly events that alarm the servants of Rotten Row, she can't leave. There's no place to go. She must expose a murder most foul or bear the consequences... Page-turning ghost story based on a 17th century ballad.

Out of love, a mother hides her child's differences from the world. 1670, St Albans Midwife Abigale Harris protects her adopted child from prejudice, superstition and ignorance by hiding the truth about her from everybody in their busy market town. Throughout her life, she teaches Mary the importance of keeping her secret, placing strong constraints to guide and shape her. Twenty-one years later, Mary is good, kind and loyal. She is a caring sister to Abigale's two other adopted daughters and an indispensable assistant to Abigale in the birthing chamber. But Mary is increasingly unhappy and changes in her make it evident to Abigale that she may have made the wrong decision all those years ago. Is it too late to right the wrong she's done Mary and give her back her life? Or will revealing the secret destroy their livelihood and bring ruin to Abigale's whole family?