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 The Book of the Unnamed Midwife

by Meg Elison

Talk about she persisted?! Most post-apocalyptic books make me wonder why anyone would even try: mass death brings out the worst in us human types, so why not just end it as calmly and quietly as possible? But the Midwife makes me want to continue. My perception of reality is altered: Karen/Dusty/Jane is someone I wish I knew and she's changed, in the most visceral ways, my ideas about survival in the face of ugliness. If most women were dead, how would men behave? How would women behave? Elison examines human behavior through the lens of multi-layered characters, even the ones you know for only a short time. Her insight into justice, sexuality, faith, and the drive to continue despite everything is sharp and illuminating. Absolutely cannot wait to read the next book! - Linda

Cellar Door Interview with Meg Elison

Meg Elison is a Bay Area author and essayist. Her debut novel, The Book of the Unnamed Midwife, won the 2014 Philip K. Dick Award and was listed as a Tiptree Committee Recommendation. Her second novel, The Book of Etta, published in February of this year. Her books have been book club picks for both the Cellar Door Book Club and the Sci-Fi & Fantasy Book Club. In anticipation of her Q&A with us this month, we were lucky enough to ask her a few questions about her writing, books, and more!

What gave you the idea to write The Book of the Unnamed Midwife?

I've read widely in post-apocalyptic science fiction. I tried to read every book in the genre written in English, but I'm always finding more. I noticed after a while that most of those books are about men, from a male character's point of view. I knew that I would have different concerns and needs than most men under those circumstances and I wanted to read books that took that into account. There are damn few of those out there! I found P.D. James's Children of Men and Margaret Atwood, of course. There's really only a handful. So, if the book you want to read isn't on the shelf, you have to write it yourself. I gathered up all my rage about the sexism I've seen and endured. I read about how many women die in childbirth because we treat them like objects. I read first-hand accounts from people who were raped in disaster conditions, like right after Hurricane Katrina. And I wrote in that white-hot anger. That was Midwife, and it was written in less than 90 days.

The parallels between The Handmaid's Tale and Midwife are easy to see, but what do you want people to see as the distinctions? What separates these two world views?

The biggest difference between Handmaid's and Midwife is the way we each include a queer experience. Atwood was writing in the early 80s and is (as far as I know) not a queer woman. I specifically set out to write a queer book, and to distress the notion of gender by putting it through the terrible machinations of a plague that makes pregnancy almost impossible. Atwood's work makes you realize how disadvantaged women really are; mine makes you see that gender is a prison for everyone. 

There has been a resurgence of the focus on women's rights. If you could give women in their twenties a piece of advice, what would it be?

Obtain a safe and reliable form of birth control if you need it. Help others who cannot get one for themselves. Let no one own your body or your power. Hold you own separate bank account in your own name, no matter what. Buy a good-quality sex toy and learn who you are when no one else is around. Trust your gut every time, and don't worry so much about looking silly. Believe and respect other women, even if they don't look like you or act like you. We can't ever stop fighting for our rights. They will never stop trying to take them away. 

Post-apocalyptic worlds seem to remove the finer layers in society, leaving exposed the most basic and essential. Justice in Midwives is both scarily satisfying and horrific all at once (nicely done, by the way), but what do we take away from this about humanity?

In my research, one of the things that stood out the most to me was that our pretense at civilization is balanced pretty precariously on just one or two things. We're like an egg on a tripod. If anyone breaks just one of those legs, the whole thing is going down. I'm not saying we all need to prep for doom; just the opposite. I'm saying civilization needs to grow legs.

What book(s) are you reading now?

I just read Roxane Gay's Hunger, and it's possibly the best memoir I've ever read. That's tough to say, because I read Sherman Alexie's You Don't Have to Say You Love Me right after and it's very different, but also incredible. I recently loved Erica Satifka's Stay Crazy and Nick Mamatas's I Am Providence, both fantastic genre pieces.

What book would you not be able to live without?

Everything I need to know, I learned from Stephen King. I re-read The Stand way more than I should. I study his short stories like they're grad school. I wouldn't be who I am today without his work.

Do you have any advice for aspiring or new writers?

My advice is this: read books you hate. Read them closely and obsessively. Get inside your hate and figure out why it is so hot. Let it drive you. Love doesn't write books. Seething rage is the correct fuel for a life of creative writing.

Don't forget about the sequel, The Book of Etta!

Etta comes from Nowhere, a village of survivors of the great plague that wiped away the world that was. In the world that is, women are scarce and childbearing is dangerous... yet desperately necessary for humankind's future. Mothers and midwives are sacred, but Etta has a different calling. As a scavenger. Loyal to the village but living on her own terms, Etta roams the desolate territory beyond: salvaging useful relics of the ruined past and braving the threat of brutal slave traders, who are seeking women and girls to sell and subjugate.

When slavers seize those she loves, Etta vows to release and avenge them. But her mission will lead her to the stronghold of the Lion - a tyrant who dominates the innocent with terror and violence. There, with no allies and a few weapons besides her wits and will, she will risk both body and spirit not only to save lives but also to liberate a new world's destiny.