Overview

A new Muslim, Shannon Staloch moves to California to live near a community studying traditional Islam and finds herself learning another venerable tradition, midwifery. In this intricately woven memoir, Shannon braids the intimate moments from the birth stories of a diverse cast of women with the reflections of great thinkers from the Islamic and Western traditions-from the spiritual master Imam al-Ghazali to the British obstetrician Grantly Dick Read, from Plato to Malcolm X-as she traces her journey of finding belonging and an enduring path to truth in her new faith. Birth by birth, Shannon arrives closer to understanding her craft and herself, as she aims at a place that transcends identity, buoyed by the belief that dedication to a craft could shape not just the hands of a craftswoman, but also her soul.

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Reviews

""Shannon Staloch effortlessly weaves ancient childbirth lore with the stories of births she attends, and relates them to her deepening faith in an equally ancient religion...beautiful, elegiac, transformative."" Peggy Vincent, Certified Nurse-Midwife and bestselling author of Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife ""An amazing a memoir about the coming of age for a young American after 9/11, who finds her spirituality in Islam, and becomes a midwife to serve humanity for the sake of Allah."" Shafia M. Monroe (Queen Mother of the Midwife Movement) author of Mothering the Mother: African American Postpartum Traditions, Recipes and Healing

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