Product Description

In this follow up to CALL THE MIDWIFE, Jennifer Worth, a midwife working in the docklands area of East London in the 1950s tells more stories about the people she encountered. There's Jane, who cleaned and generally helped out at Nonnatus House - she was taken to the workhouse as a baby and was allegedly the illegitimate daughter of an aristocrat. Peggy and Frank's parents both died within 6 months of each other and the children were left destitute. At the time, there was no other option for them but the workhouse. The Reverend Thornton-Appleby-Thorton, a missionary in Africa, visits the Nonnatus nuns and Sister Julienne acts as matchmaker. And Sister Monica Joan, the eccentric ninety-year-old nun, is accused of shoplifting some small items from the local market. She is let off with a warning, but then Jennifer finds stolen jewels from Hatton Garden in the nun's room. These stories give a fascinating insight into the lives of the poor in 1950s London, of the shadow of the workhouse that always hung over their lives but also of the resilience and spirit that enabled ordinary people to overcome their difficulties.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #867 in Books
• Published on: 2009-01-22
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 312 pages

Review
"There's sadness, suffering, humour, strength and survival in this fascinating book" (SAINSBURY'S MAGAZINE )

"a heartfelt, moving, witty book that vividly depicts this lost world with all its vicissitudes and its many joys" (GOOD BOOK GUIDE )

About the Author
Jennifer Worth was a nurse, midwife, ward sister and night sister from 1953 until 1973, working mainly in London. Her first passion was - and still is - music, and she is a Fellow of the London College of Music. She taught piano and singing for about twenty-five years and still sings in choirs all over England and Europe. She has been married for forty-five years and has two daughters and three grandchildren.

Customer Reviews

Not as good as I thought it would be
After reading Call the Midwife and aboslutely LOVING it, I couldn't wait to get hold of this book. THe book is split into three segments, each telling three different stories. I was really interested in the workhouse aspect, and found the first segment enthralling and couldn't stop reading. However, the following two segments didn't relaly ahve much to do with workhouses and, whilst they were interesting in their own ways, they weren't as gripping as the first segment and in a way felt like they had been shoved in to make up the pages. I was left feeling disappointed after finishing this book, as it wasn't as good as I thought it would be.

Can't put it down
Couldn't wait for the arrival of this paperback after reading Call the Midwife. Got it yesterday and it's living up to all expectations. I forced myself to shut off the light way after midnight but can't wait to get back into it. Three chapters in and it's compelling albeit brutal. Jennifer Worth is such a good storyteller and as a fellow midwife I recommend this book as essential reading - even if you're not a lover of social history. Thanks Jennifer.

A Moving Book
Once again Jennifer Worth has achieved an amazing feat in vividly bringing alive the London of the 1950s, and how the lives of so many individuals was still wrapped up in the shadows of the workhouse which had been abolished some thirty years before.

Unlike her first book, we do not meet so many different characters this time or have so many stories. Instead, the book is divided into three parts. The first deals with a middle aged woman called Jane and a grown up brother and sister whose friendship was forged under the crushing and brutal atmosphere of the workhouse over forty years before. The second is a more light hearted section, almost comedy relief, with the trial of an elderly nun for theft. The final section I found most moving, and it brought tears to my eyes. It tells the moving story of her friendship with an elderly man, and reminds us all that just being there to listen to someone can transform their lives in more ways than we can hope for.

In reading this book, you cannot fail to admire Jennifer Worth - that at such a young age, she must have been in her mid twenties at the times these events are recorded, she had so much compassion for the destitute, the elderly and lonely. This book also makes me admire the elderly man she befriends - who never sees his situation as belak and is grateful for the NHS and social housing, even though that housing is whiolly inadequate.

Jennifer Worth is a very talented writer, and in writing these memoirs she celebrates the life of the ordinary person and their suffering. So far I have found both her books very moving and cannot wait for the final volume.