Point of View

The Midwife's Apprentice is written in third person, with the attention focused on the main character, Alyce. The third person point of view allows the reader to understand the thoughts and feelings of Alyce as she tries to find her way through life. Since a large focus of the novel is the internal growth of Alyce, this perspective gives the reader a deeper insight into the struggles that the girl goes through in the story.

There is not much spoken dialogue in the novel, though at times the internal struggle that Alyce experiences is expressed as an internal dialogue of sorts. There are lengthy descriptive passages that not only describe the areas in the village where Alyce visits, but also her feelings about her experiences. As the novel progresses, Alyce's views of the people and places around her change as well, allowing the reader to see...