Call the Midwife (The Midwife Trilogy #1) by Jennifer Worth

My rating:

Call the Midwife, the first of a trilogy by Jennifer Worth, née Lee, is a memoir of the author’s work as a midwife, working with the nuns of “Nonnatus House”, in the East End during the 1950s. It is a collection of comical, sad, mischievous, happy, and unexpected true tales of poverty-stricken large families living in post-war London, often in squalid tenements, deemed unfit for human habitation.

In this educational, warm, easy, and humane book, the reader gets a glimpse of sleeping by the Cut, pig breeding, boys never found in secret hideouts, the discrete lives of nuns, and the maddening heartbreak of poverty, adoption, and brutal loss.

There has always been something about Cockneys, which is perfectly portrayed here: rough around the edges, fundamentally kind, and always up for a good laugh!

This book really worked well for me, at times I was thoroughly engrossed, checking the map of London, reading up on workhouses, Cable Street (what has this street not been privy to?), and reading up on the bits and pieces that needed filling in. I hope others enjoy it as much as I did!

** Note **
This beautiful edition is vividly illustrated.

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