I have mixed thoughts on this one, and it mostly boils down to this: It's not you, it's me.
This is a book for my Book Cult but not one that I personally would've picked. I can always appreciate it when a book club gets me to read outside my regular genres, and early American historical fiction definitely qualifies. That's one thing this book was already up against. Additionally, I generally try to avoid books with these particular content warnings, especially when they are so graphic. Finally, the book is about a midwife-- and given recent political events, I have put more thought than ever into those topics, and the significant fear that I feel about them. As if all of that weren't enough, the pacing was atrocious, and there were a lot of unnecessary births and details to show Ballard's skill, ultimately leading to the book being significantly longer than necessary.
The writing was beautiful, our MC's voice was strong, and it was interesting to learn the real (or 75% real, according to the author's note) story of Martha Ballard. I understand the high ratings for this book, it just really wasn't for me.