Call the Midwife: A True Story of the East End in the 1950s
by Jennifer Worth | Literature & Fiction | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 0753827875 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 0753827875 Global Overview for this book
Registered by 
Davros-10
of Banyo, Queensland Australia on 6/24/2013
This book is in a Controlled Release!
Davros-10 of Banyo, Queensland Australia on 6/24/2013 This book is in a Controlled Release!
1 journaler for this copy...
I don't watch the TV series myself, but KEMS really enjoys it, so I purchased this for her.
From amazon.com:
"BOOK DESCRIPTION
Publication Date: January 1, 2012
Jennifer Worth came from a sheltered background when she became a midwife in the Docklands in the 1950s. The conditions in which many women gave birth just half a century ago were horrifying, not only because of their grimly impoverished surroundings, but also because of what they were expected to endure. But while Jennifer witnessed brutality and tragedy, she also met with amazing kindness and understanding, tempered by a great deal of Cockney humour. She also earned the confidences of some whose lives were truly stranger, more poignant and more terrifying than could ever be recounted in fiction. Attached to an order of nuns who had been working in the slums since the 1870s, Jennifer tells the story not only of the women she treated, but also of the community of nuns (including one who was accused of stealing jewels from Hatton Garden) and the camaraderie of the midwives with whom she trained. Funny, disturbing and incredibly moving, Jennifer's stories bring to life the colourful world of the East End in the 1950s.
REVIEWS
From Publishers Weekly
Worth gained her midwife training in the 1950s among an Anglican order of nuns dedicated to ensuring safer childbirth for the poor living amid the Docklands slums on the East End of London. Her engaging memoir retraces those early years caring for the indigent and unfortunate during the pinched postwar era in London, when health care was nearly nonexistent, antibiotics brand-new, sanitary facilities rare, contraception unreliable and families with 13 or more children the norm. Working alongside the trained nurses and midwives of St. Raymund Nonnatus (a pseudonym she's given the place), Worth made frequent visits to the tenements that housed the dock workers and their families, often in the dead of night on her bicycle. Her well-polished anecdotes are teeming with character detail of some of the more memorable nurses she worked with, such as the six-foot-two Camilla Fortescue-Cholmeley-Browne, called Chummy, who renounced her genteel upbringing to become a nurse, or the dotty old Sister Monica Joan, who fancied cakes immoderately. Patients included Molly, only 19 and already trapped in poverty and degradation with several children and an abusive husband; Mrs. Conchita Warren, who was delivering her 24th baby; or the birdlike vagrant, Mrs. Jenkins, whose children were taken away from her when she entered the workhouse. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
Re-released to tie in with a new BBC adaptation, you must read this superbly moving but also witty story. CLOSER 20120114 This is a funny, at times disturbing, memoir of a world that has now changed beyond measure. HUDDERSFIELD DAILY EXAMINER 20120114 A poignant, funny and enlightening book -- Charlotte Vowden DAILY EXPRESS 20120210
PRODUCT DETAILS
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Phoenix (January 1, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0753827875
ISBN-13: 978-0753827871
Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.9 x 7.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars (525 customer reviews)"
From amazon.com:
"BOOK DESCRIPTION
Publication Date: January 1, 2012
Jennifer Worth came from a sheltered background when she became a midwife in the Docklands in the 1950s. The conditions in which many women gave birth just half a century ago were horrifying, not only because of their grimly impoverished surroundings, but also because of what they were expected to endure. But while Jennifer witnessed brutality and tragedy, she also met with amazing kindness and understanding, tempered by a great deal of Cockney humour. She also earned the confidences of some whose lives were truly stranger, more poignant and more terrifying than could ever be recounted in fiction. Attached to an order of nuns who had been working in the slums since the 1870s, Jennifer tells the story not only of the women she treated, but also of the community of nuns (including one who was accused of stealing jewels from Hatton Garden) and the camaraderie of the midwives with whom she trained. Funny, disturbing and incredibly moving, Jennifer's stories bring to life the colourful world of the East End in the 1950s.
REVIEWS
From Publishers Weekly
Worth gained her midwife training in the 1950s among an Anglican order of nuns dedicated to ensuring safer childbirth for the poor living amid the Docklands slums on the East End of London. Her engaging memoir retraces those early years caring for the indigent and unfortunate during the pinched postwar era in London, when health care was nearly nonexistent, antibiotics brand-new, sanitary facilities rare, contraception unreliable and families with 13 or more children the norm. Working alongside the trained nurses and midwives of St. Raymund Nonnatus (a pseudonym she's given the place), Worth made frequent visits to the tenements that housed the dock workers and their families, often in the dead of night on her bicycle. Her well-polished anecdotes are teeming with character detail of some of the more memorable nurses she worked with, such as the six-foot-two Camilla Fortescue-Cholmeley-Browne, called Chummy, who renounced her genteel upbringing to become a nurse, or the dotty old Sister Monica Joan, who fancied cakes immoderately. Patients included Molly, only 19 and already trapped in poverty and degradation with several children and an abusive husband; Mrs. Conchita Warren, who was delivering her 24th baby; or the birdlike vagrant, Mrs. Jenkins, whose children were taken away from her when she entered the workhouse. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
Re-released to tie in with a new BBC adaptation, you must read this superbly moving but also witty story. CLOSER 20120114 This is a funny, at times disturbing, memoir of a world that has now changed beyond measure. HUDDERSFIELD DAILY EXAMINER 20120114 A poignant, funny and enlightening book -- Charlotte Vowden DAILY EXPRESS 20120210
PRODUCT DETAILS
Paperback: 368 pages
Publisher: Phoenix (January 1, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0753827875
ISBN-13: 978-0753827871
Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.9 x 7.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars (525 customer reviews)"
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Given to KEMS as I know she and her mother both like the TV show.
Also counts towards the 2013 Never Judge A Book By Its Cover Release Challenge: Week 26 (Quarter 2 Do-Over - W21: Red, White & Blue).
Thanks for checking the site out. I hope you enjoy both the book and the site. People all over the world are tracking their books through BookCrossing. While you're here, I'd really appreciate it if you'd make a journal entry for this book so I know that it's safe. You may choose to remain anonymous or to join (it's free).
If you do decide to become a BookCrosser please consider using me, Davros-10, as the member who referred you. If you are already familiar with BookCrossing, thanks for picking up the book, I hope it is one you were looking for!
Please feel free to keep this book for as long as you wish, and whenever you're ready pass it on to a friend, or leave it "in the wild" for someone else to find. Then watch its journey - you'll be alerted by email each time someone makes a new journal entry. It's all confidential, free and fun (and addictive - but in a GOOD way)!
Given to KEMS as I know she and her mother both like the TV show.
Also counts towards the 2013 Never Judge A Book By Its Cover Release Challenge: Week 26 (Quarter 2 Do-Over - W21: Red, White & Blue).
