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Call The Midwife: A True Story Of The East End In The 1950s
 
 

Call The Midwife: A True Story Of The East End In The 1950s (Paperback)

by Jennifer Worth (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
RRP: £6.99
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Price For All Three: £12.14

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Product details

  • Paperback: 376 pages
  • Publisher: Phoenix (6 Mar 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0753823837
  • ISBN-13: 978-0753823835
  • Product Dimensions: 19.3 x 12.2 x 2.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 423 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #1 in  Books > History > Cultural History > London
    #3 in  Books > Biography > Historical > Social & Urban History
    #6 in  Books > Biography > Historical > 1901 Onwards

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Product Description

Sunday Express 7th July 2002 - Fiona McDonald Smith

Jennifer Worth can rival James Herriot with her descriptions of childbirth in the Poplar tenements. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Review

"Funny, disturbing and incredibly moving" (YORKSHIRE EVENING POST )

"Worth's portrait is subtle, skilfully describing a sense of community that no longer exists" (FT MAGAZINE )

"an amazing if at times gut-wrenching read... a detailed trip into history which may raise a few tears and many eyebrows" (WARWICKSHIRE TELEGRAPH )

"Misery memoir meets EastEnders with a bang!" (GOOD BOOK GUIDE )

Inside This Book (Learn More)
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Call The Midwife: A True Story Of The East End In The 1950s
90% buy the item featured on this page:
Call The Midwife: A True Story Of The East End In The 1950s 4.7 out of 5 stars (70)
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Farewell To The East End: The Last Days of the East End Midwives
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Customer Reviews

70 Reviews
5 star:
 (58)
4 star:
 (7)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (70 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Familiar Territory, 2 Nov 2003
By Mrs. Angela READ "Maturegrad" (Devizes, Wiltshire United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Call the Midwife (Paperback)
Like Jennifer Worth, I was a midwife in the Fifties. Her narrative awoke many memories for me, many I'd forgotten, some I'd tried to forget. An only child, protected from the 'nastiness' of real life, midwifery training at first shocked me and then drew me into a career full of love and life: I miss it still. My 'District' was suburban London and later on a West End hospital, but poverty was there,too, alongside a richness of spirit. I used to be embarrassed by my emotional response at every birth I attended:'Call the Midwife' made me shed tears again as my memories chimed with her experiences. The 'Kangaroo Care' of Conchita's baby specially drew me as I had a spell caring for premature babies and always felt that incubator care was too impersonal; thankfully this has changed now to allow mothers much more hands-on involvement with their tiny babies.
Incidentally, I trained medical students: are they really no longer trained in this way?
May I add my plea to Jennifer Worth to complete her trilogy; the only improvement on her first book would be two more of the same.
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39 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Call the Midwife - a salutory experience, 27 Feb 2003
This review is from: Call the Midwife (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. I await Jennifer Worth's promised follow-up with great anticipation - my only observation being that she needs to let us know what became of her 'heroes' and 'heroines' - did Conchita live to a ripe old age, did Mary ever escape the clutches of prostitution once released from prison? Come on Jennfer, please tell us. And congratulations on an incredible book - this student midwife looks in awe upon your skills, your courage, your ability to deliver a baby in the most desperate circumstances. And I salute the women of the 1950s East End.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A pick up/put down kinda book - only it NEVER gets put down!, 10 Oct 2005
By A Customer
This review is from: Call the Midwife (Paperback)
This book has similarities to Baby Catcher, in that it is another biography, however it is set in London in the 1950's and highlights some of the realities of a darker side of midwifery. It brings the history and origins of British midwifery to life and describes conditions and early pionears of midwifery in some of the most poverty stricken areas of London. Ive not finished reading it yet but its one of those I just cant put down!! Id definately recommend it to anyone who has a vague interest in midwifery as its facinationg the think how far we have come in just 60 years (my mum was born in the 40's, which now Ive read this is a scarey thought!).
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling
I love non-fiction that tells me about a job or time in history that I don't know very much about. Call The Midwife is based on Jennifer Worth's experiences as a midwife in the... Read more
Published 1 month ago by susie

4.0 out of 5 stars Fab!
Excellent, well written and a very enjoyable read, interesting history included about life in the 50's and childbirth - how lucky we are now! Read more
Published 2 months ago by Daphne

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book
This book provides an excellent insight into child birth and generally life in 1950ies London. At times one cannot believe that this is the 20th century - it seems more like the... Read more
Published 2 months ago

5.0 out of 5 stars Moving and interesting
This was a really interesting account of what midwifery used to be like, and really brought it home to me how much things have changed in just 50 years. Read more
Published 2 months ago by rippers

4.0 out of 5 stars Call the midwife...
I had really high expectations from this book and I can't help feeling a little disappointed. When I got about a third of the way in, I almost gave up, as I found it quite boring... Read more
Published 3 months ago by C. Rucroft

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, Interesting and Eye opening
I have now finished the first two books in this trilogy, and to review the first one I would summarize my feelings into three main categories, to let you know what you can expect:... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Richard Napier

5.0 out of 5 stars A fantastic historical insight
I am studying a degree in Humanities which has comprised the history of medicine where we learned about 'Handywomen' or Midwives. Read more
Published 3 months ago by J. Thiel

1.0 out of 5 stars Horrendous
This book was chosen as a Book Club read and although I finished it, it almost finished me.
I was born late 40's so was a young child in the district where Ms Worth was a... Read more
Published 4 months ago by C. Elizabeth Read

5.0 out of 5 stars Great medicine for my 91yr old mum.
I am so glad I bought this audio book for my Mums birthday, she has enjoyed it so much, she cannot read for any length of time and is very frail living in sheltered accomodation... Read more
Published 4 months ago by J.M.H.

5.0 out of 5 stars Call the Midwife
I found this a fascinating book, completely true to those times. I have first-hand knowledge of the area around Cable Street and can vouch for the veracity of the conditions. Read more
Published 5 months ago by H. MCNIDDER-SINCLAIR

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