Patricia Harman Books In Order

Publication Order of Amazing Tale of the Little Goat Midwives Books

Publication Order of Hope River Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Patricia Harman is a children’s fiction and historical fiction author best known for the “Hope River” series of novels.

The author spent more than three decades working as a midwife for women. She started out as a lay midwife, a job at which she delivered babies on communal farms and cabins in West Virginia. She would graduate to midwife-nurse as she taught at a community hospital birthing center and in teaching hospitals.
Harman would then spend more than ten years in the seventies and sixties as youth living in the communities in Tolstoy Farm a commune in Washington and several others in Minnesota and Connecticut.

During the Vietnam War, she and Tom Harman, her husband, traveled a lot across the US as they hitchhiked looking for a place to call home. In 1974, they bought a piece of farmland with several like minded friends in Roane County, West Virginia. In their new commune they grew and stored their own food, dug a pond, and built a log house.

It was during the 1970s that Patricia went to her first home birth. She was then living with a friend in a commune when she unexpectedly went into labor and Harman had to deliver her first baby. Not long after that, she decided to head to Austin Texas to be trained to become a home birth midwife.

When she came back, she would become a founding member of the local cooperative of midwives. From then on, her passion for babies, delivering and caring for women led her towards becoming a Registered Nurse.

In the mid eighties she gathered her children, a yowling cat and her husband and went north to join the University of Minnesota for her MSN in Nurse-Midwifery.

For the past two decades, Harman worked on the Ohio State University, West Virginia University and Cape Western Reserve University faculties as the resident nurse-midwife.

In 1998, she left the world of government practice and went private with her OB/Gyn husband Tom. From their practice in Morgantown, West Virginia they made it their mission in life to bring babies into the world and to care for women.

In 2003, the midwifing industry was thrown a curveball as Obstetrics liability insurance went through the roof. Since Patricia Harman could no longer afford it, she quit doing deliveries. While many of her patients were not happy with the decision, she had made her decision as she wanted to try her hand at something else.

She had always dreamed of one day becoming an author and now had the time to do it. Patricia published “The Midwife of Hope River,” her debut novel, in 2012 and has never looked back since. She now has more than half a dozen novels across two series.

She still works and lives with Thomas Harman, her Ob/Gyn husband in Morgantown, where she still provides care for women in early pregnancy and after giving birth. She has brought to her writing the same compassion and dedication she had when she was doing obstetrics.

“The Midwife of Hope River” by Patricia Harman is a remarkable novel celebrating the miracle of life. The lead in the novel is Patience Murphy, an Appalachian midwife who struggled against prejudice, poverty and disease during the 1930s.

She also has to deal with her own hunting past as she works hard to bring new life and light into what is a very cruel world. Working in Depression era Appalachia, the only comfort she has is her gift and the chance to help mothers in childbirth and the rigors that usually follow.

She usually takes in the most in need patients in dire straits whom nobody wants. She will do anything to fulfill the wishes of her mentor but since she is just starting out she needs to gain peoples’ trust.

The novel is a stirring narrative that comes with much Americana authenticity. Patience is facing what seems like insurmountable odds of prejudice, poverty and disease at every turn.

From the dangerous attention of the Klu Klux Klan to the dangerous mines in West Virginia, it is going to be a huge challenge bringing light into this world.

Patricia Harman’s novel “The Reluctant Midwife” is a heartfelt sequel to “The Midwife of Hope River.” It is a novel full of warmth and humor and teeming with life that celebrates the human spirit.

Women are struggling to feed their kids while men are put out of work as the Great Depression bites hard on the residents of West Virginia. Nurse Becky Meyers is back home to take care of those in need.

However, while she can do most things, helping women in childbirth has always made her quest. For such cases, she always relies on Patience Murphy, her dear friend and experienced midwife.

She is happy to be back in Hope River where she grew up, but experience and time have tempered her good nature and her vibrant spirit has been destroyed by Dr Isaac Blum, her former employer. Patience too seems to have changed as she is expecting a baby with her husband and soon will no longer be able to help in midwifing duties.

In addition to all these challenges, her courage and skills are severely tested when a Civilian Conservation Corps camp catches fire.
Full of compassion and humor, the work is a compelling tribute to the power of love and optimism to overcome the most trying of times and circumstances.

“Once a Midwife” by Patricia Harman welcomes its readers back to Hope River as Patience Hester and her many friends and family face the challenges brought about by the Second World War. Patience Hester is a skilled midwife that is respected by the women of Hope River.

Even though the Great Depression is turning into a distant memory, the women are still troubled as Europe is at war and they know the US will get involved at some point. While there are many who cannot wait to join the fight, Daniel, who is Patience’s husband, wants nothing to do with it.

Daniel is a Patriot who hated the worldshed of World War I and has vowed he would never fight again. But his decision leaves his wife and their four children vulnerable to neighbors who do not like it and the government who might just take him in.

Patience now needs to fight for the release of her husband and support her family even though she has her own misgivings. In all this, she also needs to keep her practice running which is a huge challenge in itself.

One Response to “Patricia Harman”

1. Jean Howard: 2 weeks ago

   I worked as a nurse for 42 years & love Patricia Hartman’s books. I also love history & the books are excellent.

   Reply