As the character many others refer to throughout as the midwife, Ana is the protagonist of the novel. In her mid-fifties, she is an observant Catholic who worships frequently. With her husband Bartek, she has three sons, Bronislaw, Zander, and Jakub, who are in their early twenties or late teens. As a young professional woman, Ana committed herself to delivering babies safely, pledging to continue as a midwife so long as she never lost either an infant or mother, even in Birkenau. She views the birth of every child as a miracle and an injection of hope into the world. One of the first babies she delivered was Ester.

Ana experiences unquenched outrage following the German invasion of Poland. The unrest she feels deepens as she watches the sequestering of the Jews and listens to the racial propaganda espoused by the SS officers who rule over the city. When she learns that the workcamps established in the countryside are deathcamps to which the Nazis send unsuspecting Jews, she joins the Polish resistance.

Serendipitously, Ana encounters Ester as they board trains bound from Łơdź to Birkenau. Ana pledges to Ester’s dying mother, Ruth, that she will watch over Ester.