"Call the Midwife," by Jennifer Worth

"Call the Midwife," by Jennifer Worth

An unforgettable story of the joy of motherhood, the bravery of a community, and the hope of one extraordinary woman

At the age of twenty-two, Jennifer Worth leaves her comfortable home to move into a convent and become a midwife in post war London's East End slums. The colorful characters she meets while delivering babies all over London-from the plucky, warm-hearted nuns with whom she lives to the woman with twenty-four children who can't speak English to the prostitutes and dockers of the city's seedier side-illuminate a fascinating time in history. Beautifully written and utterly moving, The Midwife will touch the hearts of anyone who is, and everyone who has, a mother.

If you have seen the television series you will enjoy the book.  You will recognize the stories from the television series in the book.  So in this case if you read the book first, you will find that the television series elaborates more on each story told in the book.

It's hard to believe what the people of the Docklands had to endure even in the 1960's.  However they were a close nit group of people who did the best they could with what little they had.  I must have had a sheltered up bringing as I had never really heard much about workhouses.  The story told in the book was eye opening for me.

I see there are a couple more books in the series, so I will have to see about borrowing those as well from the library.  I will say the producers of the television series did a fine job of adapting the book to the TV.

Stars out of 5 : 5 a great book and well worth the read.