Call the Midwife: Shadows of the Workhouse

Written by Jennifer Worth

Narrated by Nicola Barber

When twenty-two-year-old Jennifer Worth, from a comfortable middle-class upbringing, went to work as a midwife in the direst section of postwar London, she not only delivered hundreds of babies and touched many lives, she also became the neighborhood#8217;s most vivid chronicler. Woven into the ongoing tales of her life in the East End are the true stories of the people Worth met who grew up in the dreaded workhouse, a Dickensian institution that limped on into the middle of the twentieth century.Though these are stories of unimaginable hardship, what shines through each is the resilience of the human spirit and the strength, courage, and humor of people determined to build a future for themselves against the odds. This is an enduring work of literary nonfiction, at once a warmhearted coming-of-age story and a startling look at people#8217;s lives in the poorest section of postwar London.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Highbridge Company
• Release date: Feb 4, 2014
• ISBN: 9781622313457

Jennifer Worth

Jennifer Worth trained as a nurse at the Royal Berk-shire Hospital in Reading, and was later ward sister at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital in London, then the Marie Curie Hospital, also in London. Music had always been her passion, and in 1973 she left nursing in order to study music intensively, teaching piano and singing for about twenty-five years. Jennifer died in May 2011 after a short illness, leaving her husband, Philip; two daughters; and three grandchildren. Her books have all been bestsellers in England.

Reviews for Call the Midwife

[hmib_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A heartbreaking set of stories - read it and weep

[eclecticdodo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Second instalment of memoirs of nurse Jenny Lee. 3 sections follow the lives of older people she met in 1950's East End. The first and last show the enduring effect of the workhouses following their supposed abolition in the 1930's. The second is an account of the later years of one of the nuns she worked with. I have to wonder how much artistic licence was used as some details the author can't have known. Fascinating all the same. It really helps to put a human angle on the events of history.

[Windy Metts · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have enjoyed the books more than the television series

[Becki Basley · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An interesting Way to tell the story of the workhouses, how it affected people even after they Got out of Them and also how people became institutionalized and how government policy affected the workhouses and the poor Living houses.