Call The Midwife: A True Story of the East End in the 1950s - Jennifer Worth

Review of 'Call the Midwife' by Jennifer Worth.

**The book**

This book is true story of the life and work of a young midwife, Jennifer Worth. Jennifer worked in the East End of London in the 1950s, her patients were among the poorest, toughest members of the Dockland community.

The second World War had left London ravaged and in parts derelict. Children had bombsites for their playgrounds and many homes ...
...the war, were still in use. Photographs within the book show just how badly some areas of London were affected. Families were crowded into condemned tenement buildings with no running water or inside lavatories were the norm for the resilient East Enders of the time. Large families lived cheek by jowl with the prostitutes and brothels of Cable Street. Racial prejudice was rife, with girls who gave birth to a mixed race child were scorned and vilified. ... more

Review of 'Call the Midwife' by Jennifer Worth.

**The book**

This book is true story of the life and work of a young midwife, Jennifer Worth. Jennifer worked in the East End of London in the 1950s, her patients were among the poorest, toughest members of the Dockland community.

The second World War had left London ravaged and in parts derelict. Children had bombsites for their playgrounds and many homes that had been declared unfit for human occupation prior to the war, were still in use. Photographs within the book show just how badly some areas of London were affected. Families were crowded into condemned tenement buildings with no running water or inside lavatories were the norm for the resilient East Enders of the time. Large families lived cheek by jowl with the prostitutes and brothels of Cable Street. Racial prejudice was rife, with girls who gave birth to a mixed race child were scorned and vilified.

Jennifer worked and lived with the nuns of the St Raymonds Nonnatus, a religious order based in London's docklands. The nuns were qualified nurses and midwives who served their community, mixing with the rough and ready dockers and cheerful Cockneys in a caring but 'no nonsense' way. Nursing staff were trained as midwives by the order and as such actually lived with the nuns. The Nuns were all too human and their foibles and idiosyncrasies are there in all their glory! The nuns came from widely varying backgrounds, some well to do, some definitely not, but their dedication and devotion to their calling put them all on an even keel. Jennifer had her favourites and although she was not a religious person herself, found living and working from the convent, strangely peaceful and rewarding.

Jennifer writes with obvious affection and loyalty to the Nuns and the patients she tended, her characters are so well described that the reader almost feels they know them. Who could ever forget Conchita, the non English speaking Spanish woman, married to a non Spanish speaking Londoner? Conchita and her husband Len went on to have 25 babies. No, that is not a typing error, 25 babies, all of whom survived! Lack of language skills obviously had some compensations! Or Mary, the gentle Irish girl who fell in with the 'wrong' company and ended up pregnant, alone and terrified? The fact that these are true stories makes the book and Jennifer's memories all the more touching.

More I will not divulge here for fear of spoiling the book for others.

**The author**

Jennifer Worth trained as a nurse at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading and then moved to London to train as a midwife. She later became a staff nurse at the Royal London hospital, Whitechapel. She later moved to the Elizabeth Garrett Hospital, Euston where she was a ward sister. Jennifer left nursing in 1973 in order to study music, a passion of hers.
Jennifer Worth is married with two daughters and three grandchildren, she now lives in Hertforshire.

**Other info**
Published by Orion Books in 2002.
www.orionbooks.co.uk
ISBN 978-0-7538-2383-5
Jacket price £6.99, available on www.amazon.co.uk from £2.85

**My thoughts and conclusion**

This is a remarkable book, it has made a lasting impression on me and I am full of respect and amazement for the women of 1950s London. They coped and managed under extremely difficult circumstances that many a modern woman could scarcely imagine, let alone put up with! Since reading 'Call the Midwife', I have spoken at length to my own mother and grandmother, now aged 76 and 95, respectively, they lived in the shadow of one of these nursing convents and have many wonderful memories of the nuns. All I can say is the women, both nuns and otherwise are to be applauded for their service to their communities.
As a child of the 1950s myself, I thank them for all their hard work and devotion

brittle1906
September 2008. 

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