Maggie Anton is well known for her books on Rashi’s daughters. In her latest work of historical fiction, The Midwives’ Escape, she provides a new telling of the Exodus story. Each chapter opens with a Biblical quote. Anton has done her research among scholars, including the debate over what route the Israelites took and how long they stayed at each camp.
Anton takes as her jumping-off point Exodus 12:38: “Moreover, a mixed multitude went up with them.” Among this mixed multitude are Asenet and Shifra, a midwife and her daughter who is also her apprentice. After Asenet’s husband and son are killed with the other firstborn, these two women decide that the Hebrew G‑d is the most powerful and they leave with the Israelites. Mixed with Anton’s fictional characters are known figures, such as Moses, Aaron, Miriam, Joshua, and Caleb, who all play key roles in the narrative.
Anton tells her story through the viewpoints of these two midwives. She follows them through the Reed Sea to Mount Sinai and beyond. The women and their traveling companions witness all the miracles G‑d performs and it further cements their belief in Elohim, the god of the Israelites.
One of the miracles is the manna provided from heaven. Using her skills as a writer and researcher, Anton illuminates the travelers’ world. She pictures the people as skilled at goat herding and therefore they have milk, cheese, and on festive occasions, a kid for roasting. They also find olive and date trees, which provide the means for oil and beer made from the fermented dates. Additionally, they trade with caravans that pass through their route.
Much of the book is spent in the thirty-eight years the group settled in Kadesh. It is during these years that the generation who worshiped the golden calf dies away and a new generation, unstained by that sin, is ready to fight its way into the land of Canaan.
There are many scenes of war, as the Israelites meet Amalekite and Canaanite warriors who clash with them. Asenet and Shifra put their medical knowledge to work helping the victims of the battles. But there is plenty of romance, too. Asenet takes a second husband, and Shifra has two husbands, brothers, whom she marries in the custom of her husbands’ people.
Readers will enjoy this riveting blend of history and fiction, written only as Maggie Anton can.
Jill S. Beerman grew up in New Jersey and attended Montclair State University. She has a doctorate in American Studies from New York University. She taught high school and college for twenty-five years.
