Books like The Midwife of Venice — picked by fans

In prose that is engrossing and rich in color, culture, and voice, Dunant’s historical fiction novel incorporates stories of two of the women that I included in my own book.

The courtesan Fiammetta, loosely based on the life of Veronica Franco, and her healer La Draga, inspired by Elena Crusichi, pulled me into eighteenth-century Venice and its opportunities and dangers for enterprising women. Paired with reading Franco’s actual poems and letters, edited and translated by Ann Rosalind Jones and Margaret F. Rosenthal, I developed a deep admiration and compassion for Franco and Crusichi during Venice’s heyday.

Dunant has again written a page turner that I read more than once.

Mary Laven’s readable academic book Virgins of Venice is the definitive resource on the topic of nuns in Renaissance Venice. She explores every aspect of what it was like to be and live as a nun during a roughly two-hundred-year period, when most convents were filled with high-status women of no religious calling, forced to live there by their fathers and the strict social conventions of the time.

This accessible academic work brings to life the inner workings – and breakdowns – of marriages at a time when annulment was the only option. Through court and ecclesiastical proceedings and petitions written by both sexes, the lives of ordinary women – including sexual relations, domestic abuse, cheating, and financial problems – are made even more real by the voices of friends, neighbors, and in-laws.

A beautiful little book that showcases the paintings of early Renaissance painter Vittore Carpaccio, we see many women in his works. Some of saints, some bordering on the fantastical, a few quite realistic – all the women in Carpaccio’s art would have been inspired by real women living and working in Venice in the late 1400s and early 1500s.

I read this book with my journal nearby, and it was heart-changing.

It’s refreshing to have time solely focused on God without trying to figure out how to apply Scripture to my life as if He was a puzzle piece that I try to fit into place. None Like Him examines ten descriptions of God, and the more we get to know Him, the closer we feel. 

This book is a refreshingly honest and empowering guide to self-discovery and finding strength within. Through candid anecdotes and practical advice, Rachel Hollis invites readers on a journey of self-reflection and personal growth, inspiring them to embrace their authenticity and pursue their dreams with confidence.

One of the most compelling aspects of the book is Hollis' relatability. She fearlessly shares her own struggles and insecurities, offering readers a glimpse into her own journey of self-discovery, which is extremely important and what makes this so relatable. By sharing her vulnerabilities, a safe space for readers is created so that they can explore their own doubts and fears, empowering them to break free from self-limiting beliefs and embrace their true selves.

The book is filled with strategies for overcoming obstacles and achieving personal fulfillment. It provides practical advice on topics such as goal-setting, self-care, and cultivating healthy relationships, empowering readers to take… show more.

I don’t usually enjoy reading historical books – especially not academic historical books, which can tend to be quite dry, but Johnson’s book had me riveted.

She (re)introduces us to four key women in the US Christian Right’s history yet presents their stories in a way that makes the historical feel incredibly present. Moreover, by sticking close to the women’s own voices, she avoids simplistic characterizations.

This book is all about relationships. It is about a relationship with God and his people and that we are certainly more alike than different. Woman Evolve takes the reader through the story of Eve and shows the reader just how she is relatable to each and every one of us. Eve was human and we are human. She had flaws and we have flaws. Her vulnerabilities are also ours and before we point the blame at her, or anyone else for that matter we can look right back at ourselves and understand how each and every one of us doesn’t necessarily deserve redemption, but God gave it anyway. Want a good read, this book will keep you turning page after page as the reader and author explores just how fallible, alike, and loved we all are.

This is a bible study by Mrs. Guthrie. She takes each of the ten weeks to look at Christ in a different way throughout the book of Genesis.

For example, she sees him as the agent of creation, the offspring who will crush the head of the serpent, the ark of salvation, the source of the righteousness credited to Abraham, the substitutionary sacrifice provided by God, the Savior to whom the whole world must come for life. Some of these are prophecies and some of these are types and shadows.

The book is focused on small groups and comes with a leader’s guide. Christ in the Old Testament can be used in small groups, but it’s just as fitting for personal study.

The Shell is a peek into both the horrors and absurdities of totalitarian regimes told in the form of a prison diary kept by the author. Khalifa, a Christian by birth and an atheist, was mistaken (or perhaps not, given what I learned about the Assad regime in the course of my work) for a radical Islamist, arrested and locked up in the notorious Tadmor desert prison, more accurately a death camp. The book reveals the horrific consequences of the logic and methods of the Assad family and other dictators in the Middle East and beyond: Anyone suspected of harboring a hint of opposition to the ruler will be labeled a terrorist and traitor, crushed and turned into an example to instill fear in the wider population.