Nova Scotia-based author Ami McKay has successfully crafted a literary scrapbook documenting the customs and traditions of midwifery in the small, sleepy rural community of Scots Bay. Her sublime debut novel The Birth House is portrait of Dora Rare's coming of age tale of transcendence, as the town's brusque midwife Miss Babineau takes Dora under her wing as an apprentice and the pair undoes unwanted pregnancies, breech births, delivers difficult babies and even counsels unfulfilled housewives.

A narration of womanhood, inner strength, heritage and wisdom, The Birth House recently knocked Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code from first place rankings

on the best-sellers list; McKay credits her rhapsodically good fortune to the year of thank-you notes. In 2000, McKay's husband Ian nudged his wife to take her notebooks out from under the bed and pen a fortuitous thank-you note.

"Ian encouraged me to make a New Year's resolution to put my writing out into the world," says McKay, from her home in Scots Bay. "The thought of it terrified me. I teasingly told him that I'd have to start with something simple, like writing thank-you notes to people I didn't know. He called me out on and it and said, "OK, but the first one better be to someone really big."

McKay's initial recipient of her random notes of gratitude was none other than Oprah Winfrey. Within two days of tossing this gesture out into the digital atmosphere, she received an email response from Oprah's producer inquiring whether she wanted to be featured as a guest on the show.

"Just call me the girl who was on Oprah BEFORE she wrote a novel," she says, jokingly.

By following her heart, McKay has crafted her own literary fairy tale, as the former Chicago resident packed up and moved to Nova Scotia after a bout of splendorous happenstance. Not only did she find her soul mate, she found the landscape and tale in which she was born to tell. McKay's fictional labor through the rich history of Scots Bay surfaced when she moved into the old farmhouse, which she later learned was inhabited by the town's midwife in the early 20th century and known locally as the birth house.

"The midwife, Mrs. E. Rebecca Steele had gone out to women's homes to deliver babies, she also invited mothers-to-be to come to her house to have their children," she says. "She used a little room off the kitchen as the birthing room. It's still the warmest, coziest room in the house. She was a real stickler when it came to the community supporting new mothers, she insisted the mothers and babies stay with her for a week or more after a birth and she call on others in the village to get things ready (food, clothing, cleaning, etc.) for their homecoming. Many of the life-long residents of Scots Bay who are now in their 80's were born in my house."

Main character and purveyor of birth Dora is sprinkled with wit, intelligence, dignity and a touch of madness. McKay alludes to but does not commit herself to being the motivation behind Miss Babineau's estranged protege.

"She's not based on any one person," says McKay. "Although, I suppose if you hooked me up to a lie-detector I'd have to admit that there's a fair bit of myself in Dora. I was a weird, curious, bookish girl. My father told me (on more than one occasion) that I was far too mouthy and that he wasn't even sure if any man would ever put up with me."

Needless to say she proved her father wrong, as McKay certainly does not apologize for who she is or what she writes, even to those who perceived the publication of The Birth House an act of antagonism towards the people of Scots Bay.

"The book has been received like a marriage, for better and for worse," she explains. "Those who have read it and loved it have been kind enough to say so, that's meant the world to me. I've also heard rumblings here and there that there are a few people who have been offended by the book. Word on the street is that they feel it's filled with 'lies and smut.' I don't mind. I'm just thrilled that opinions are being formed and conversations are rising up around the novel. Much better to stir up feeling than indifference."

McKay believes women long for "the community of birth," as the medicalization and standardization of childbirth has devolved and the elements of tradition and community have been lost. Through artfully educating readers about the practice of midwifery and the active roles of doulas, McKay aspires to reach a broader audience who view birth as a fearful, painful and distressing act.

"We're taught to fear giving birth, rather than to embrace it," she says. "We often feel that the pain of birth is so overwhelming that it's just better to schedule a c-section and be done with it. But there is so much more to it than that. The birthing process is an important one, physiologically and emotionally for mother and child.

"Support from a community before, during and after a birth is crucial. Think how different this world would be if every child's life began with an entire community surrounding his/her birth."