52 books 18

18.Call The Midwife  by Jennifer Worth


As an avid watcher of the T.V. series I wanted to read the books too.I was a child in the 1950's and 60's although my experiences growing up on a dairy farm were very different.Being a retired nurse,though never a midwife, I loved and could relate to the detailed descriptions of life as an inexperienced and often terrified midwife and nurse.The social history of the east end of London and living in a convent was brought vividly to life through the snapshots of her patients and colleagues lives.Warmth and humour,intermixed with tragedy and squalor. Shocking and harrowing at times, but to be a midwife is to share moments of great joy and at times unbearable sorrow.The life of women in the slums with little sanitation or modern conveniences, many children and overcrowding was very hard, and for men too, working long hours for little pay but there was a real sense of community . The appendix on the richness of cockney speech was very interesting too.Visual imagery is used to paint delightful pictures of exploits of the nuns especially Sister Monica Joan.