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Call The Midwife: A True Story Of The East End In The 1950S
 
 
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Call The Midwife: A True Story Of The East End In The 1950S [Kindle Edition]

Jennifer Worth (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (592 customer reviews)
Print List Price: £7.99
Kindle Price: £2.99 includes VAT* & free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet
You Save: £5.00 (63%)
* Unlike print books, digital books are subject to VAT.

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Product Description

Review

Worth's books are full of fascinating social history: about living conditions in east London, the scale of poverty and violence, the realities of postwar medicine and the workhouse (NEW STATESMAN )

Book Description

A fascinating slice of social history - Jennifer Worth's tales of being a midwife in 1950s London, now a major BBC TV series.
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Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 621 KB
  • Print Length: 353 pages
  • Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0143123254
  • Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson (14 May 2009)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language: English
  • ASIN: B002UP1SX6
  • Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
  • X-Ray: Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (592 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #888 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
258 of 269 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Call the Midwife - a salutory experience 27 Feb 2003
By "susiejulian"
Format:Paperback
'Call the Midwife' is a most extraordinary book and should be required reading of all students of midwifery, nursing, sociology and modern history. It tells of the experiences of a young trainee midwife in the East End of London in the 1950's and is a graphic portrayal of the quite appalling conditions that the East Enders endured. Some of the stories told by the author are so distressing that I have lost sleep over them and I find myself longing to know what ultimately became of Mary, the young Irish girl imprisoned for stealing a baby (her own baby having been removed from her when the nuns caring for her were unable to place her in a job that would allow her to keep her child). What happened to Mary's daughter? By my reckoning she should be a woman in her 50's now - was she ever told that she was adopted, that she had been removed from her adoring mother without Mary's consent? I have had nightmares too about the two little boys sheltering behind a chair to escape the violence of their mother's partner; what became of them, did they go on to inflict the same brutality on their own children? As a graduate of Modern History (and student midwife), I thought I knew a good deal about recent British history. How very wrong I was. This book gave me much pause for thought: the heroism of the nursing order of nuns that Jennifer Worth worked with; the courage of Jennifer Worth and her colleagues in delivering babies in the most appalling conditions; the survival instinct of the East End women - it was a complete eye-opener. Oh, that those who pursue financial gains through our litigious culture could read this book - huge families living without the basics of sanitation or even roofs (tarpaulins providing their shelter), Conchita and her 25 pregnancies.... Read more ›
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53 of 55 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Atmospheric and utterly absorbing 25 Jan 2012
By Jordan
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I purchased this book after watching the first two episodes in the BBC adaptation of Call the Midwife and I have to say that I found the book even better than the TV series. The author writes with a great depth of knowledge and warmth about a world of poverty and deprivation into which she stepped in the 1950's. The descriptions of London's east end are descriptive and at times shocking to the modern reader. This is a fascinating memoir with some great characters. Loved it!
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84 of 88 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating history of birth and East End 4 Sep 2002
By H
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is the only book of its knid I have even heard of, let alone read. It's a true account of birth and babies in the East End of London in the 50s. Poverty and squalor were common, and there was very little ante or post-natal care. Midwives supervised home births by arriving on bikes, somethimes throught thick smog. I loved this book, which reads like fiction but is true. Anyone who has ever had anything to do with a baby being born - particularly mothers - or anyone who fancies an interesting slant on history should read this. She writes in a chatty, informal style and I could not put it down.
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31 of 33 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Harrowing True Stories of Life in the East End 27 Feb 2008
By Antoinette Brooks
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
In the introduction, Jenny Lee says that she wrote this book when she realised that there was no portrayal of the role of midwives in literature. Her aim was to give an account of the role of the 1950s midwife which would do for midwifery what James Herriot did for vets. In this she has succeeded.

She presents lives of abject poverty, destitution and slum living, combined with the fact that most women did not have one or two children, but five, ten, fifteen - and in one case twenty four! As the book progresses we meet so many different characters and learn their haunting stories. The tale of Mary, the 14 year old Irish girl, abused by her stepfather and neglected by her alcoholic mother, who naively ran away to London in hope of a better life, and was forced into prostitution and later separated by force from her baby. This left me in tears, weeping for this poor girl who never stood a chance. The story of the elderly Mrs Jenkins, who the author found so repulsive until she learned of her truely harrowing experiences in the workhouse. The tale of an elderly man called Ted, who realised that the child his wife bore him could not possibly be his, but as he held the baby in his arms decided to love him as his own anyway. The tale of Conchita and Len, and their happy, cheerful home with twenty-four children! And how her maternal instinct saved the life of her premature twenty-fifth baby.

This book provides the reader with an insight into life in the 1950s East End. I studied social history as part of my first degree, and this should be a compulsary text. This book explains with great clarity the extreme level of poverty without hope of relief that was the lot for many in those days. But there were also many wonderful things about the time.... Read more ›
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't Put This Book Down 21 Oct 2007
By L. Dyer
Format:Hardcover
Jennifer Worth describes life and work as a midwife in the east end during the 50's beautifully. I was completely lost in this book. Superbe descriptions of daily life. I quite envied her life back then because of the interesting characters she met along the way! Easy to read, absolutely loved it and would highly recommend it.
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75 of 84 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars same book two differenet titles 13 May 2009
By Elaine Orton
Format:Paperback
I was so disapointed when this book arrived, it's the same book as 'Call the Midwife' but with a different title. there should be a warning for the readers.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Better than the series
This is a great read it opened my eyes to the hardship and poverty of the time but the amazing sense of community too. Thoroughly recommendable.
Published 19 hours ago by Camgirl
5.0 out of 5 stars Just like tv!!
Love this book, its just like the tv!! upset she does not get with jimmy but she might re write history!!!
Published 2 days ago by Carly
5.0 out of 5 stars easy reading
Held your attention.Very factual it is a time long past but to me a time when i was starting to have my children,not in those
conditions though.
Published 2 days ago by CHRISTINE BALL
5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book
Because it was so true to life in the fifties.and was very descriptive of the conditions that existed in the poor areas.
Published 3 days ago by Ralph
5.0 out of 5 stars good reading
I am of the older generation and this book is so true to form. It is exactly how giving birth in those days was. A really good read.
Published 4 days ago by Mary Barlow
5.0 out of 5 stars Call the Midwife (Paperback)
I received this as a gift, then bought one to give to someone else.
The price was very reasonable. Read more
Published 5 days ago by Sr Avril Landay
4.0 out of 5 stars ta
this is a really good read just like the tv program but with more information. If you like history with fun then this is for you especially if you know who chummy... Read more
Published 9 days ago by sam
5.0 out of 5 stars Call The Midwife...a must to read!!
An excellent story, it brought the East End of London in the 50's to life and the joys and sorrows of the midwives as they went about their daily lives.
Published 9 days ago by Suzy Q
5.0 out of 5 stars moving, heartbreaking, one gets knowledge
to think this happen only 60 years ago. She is a writer, who takes you back in time and makes you feel, you are a part off her story.
Published 12 days ago by Bodil Storm
5.0 out of 5 stars Unputdownable!
I can't say enough good things about this book and its sequels. Anyone with an interest in the social history of this era will find this book fascinating. Read more
Published 14 days ago by Mrs. T. S. Prior
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