''Call the Midwife'', later called ''Call the Midwife: A True Story of the East End in the 1950s'', is a memoir by

Jennifer Worth Jennifer Louise Worth RN RM (; 25 September 1935 – 31 May 2011) was a British memoirist. She wrote a best-selling trilogy about her work as a nurse and midwife practising in the poverty-stricken East End of London in the 1950s: '' Call the ...

, and the first in a trilogy of books describing her work as a district nurse and

midwife A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughout their lifespan; ...

in the

East End of London The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have univ ...

during the 1950s. Worth wrote the book after retiring from a subsequent career as a musician, and it was originally published in July 2002. Reissued in 2007, it became a bestseller, as did the sequel ''

Shadows of the Workhouse ''Shadows of the Workhouse'' is a 2005 book by British author Jennifer Worth (1935-2011). It formed the basis for the second series of the television drama ''Call the Midwife''. Setting Although Britain's workhouses were officially abolished i ...

'' (2005, reissued 2008) and the final volume ''Farewell to the East End'' (2009). By the time of Jennifer Worth’s death in June 2011, her books had already sold almost a million copies. In 2012, the popular BBC adaptation of the trilogy boosted sales further, and all four of the author's books about the East End (the "Midwife trilogy" and ''In the Midst of Life'' (2010) went back into the charts.

Background

Worth wrote the book in response to an article by Terri Coates in the ''Royal College of Midwives Journal'', which argued that midwives had been under-represented in literature and called on "a midwife somewhere to do for midwifery what

James Herriot James Alfred Wight (3 October 1916 – 23 February 1995), better known by his pen name James Herriot, was a British veterinary surgeon and author. Born in Sunderland, Wight graduated from Glasgow Veterinary College in 1939, returning to Eng ...

did for vets". Worth wrote the first volume of her memoirs by hand and sent them to Coates to read, and Coates later served as advisor on the books and the TV adaptation.

Setting

The book is set in Poplar, in the

, where "Jenny Lee" (Worth’s maiden name) works as a midwife and district nurse, attached to a convent, Nonnatus House (a pseudonym for the

Community of St. John the Divine The Community of St. John the Divine (CSJD) is an Anglican religious order of nuns within the Church of England. Founded in London in 1848, the community is now based in Marston Green, Solihull, England. Originally a nursing order, the CSJD ...

, where Worth actually worked). The story is split between chapters describing individual mothers and their often-traumatic deliveries, and more light-hearted incidents back at the convent. As well as the name of the convent, names of the characters are generally pseudonymous, with the exception of Cynthia, who remained a close friend of Jennifer Worth's in later life.

Characters

* Jenny Lee, the author * Jane, the extremely shy medical orderly * Chummy Browne (née Camilla Fortescue-Cholmeley-Browne), a very tall, upper-class young nurse * Cynthia Miller, a kind and thoughtful young nurse * Trixie Franklin, a fun-loving young nurse * Sister Julienne, the mother superior of the order of nuns * Sister Evangelina, a rough-and-ready nun * Sister Monica Joan, an elderly and eccentric nun struggling with the loss of an acute mind * Sister Bernadette, a strict and dedicated midwife * Novice Ruth, a young nurse and soon-to-be nun

Influence

The success of ''Call the Midwife'' led publishers to release many similar real-life stories about nurses, midwives, and life in the

in the 1950s, most notably Edith Cotterill’s ''Nurse on Call'' (Ebury, 2010), and Dot May Dunn’s midwife memoir ''Twelve Babies on a Bike'' (Orion, 2010). They both went into the ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...

'' bestseller lists. Some writers acknowledged the inspiration they took from Worth’s writing – Duncan Barrett and Nuala Calvi, authors of ''

The Sugar Girls ''The Sugar Girls: Tales of Hardship, Love and Happiness in Tate & Lyle's East End'' is a bestselling work of narrative non-fiction based on interviews with women who worked in Tate & Lyle's East End factories in Silvertown from the mid-1940s on ...

'', wrote that their "aim was to capture a lost way of life, just as Jennifer Worth had done", describing the midwife books as their "touchstone".

Critical reaction

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Notes

Footnotes

External links

Orion books websiteBBC page for the TV adaptation''The Sugar Girls'' website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Call The Midwife 2002 non-fiction books British memoirs Works about midwifery Non-fiction books adapted into television shows Call the Midwife (franchise)