The highest-rated drama in BBC history, Call the Midwife will delight fans of Downton Abbey Viewers everywhere have fallen in love with this candid look at post-war London. In the 1950s, twenty-two-year-old Jenny Lee leaves her comfortable home to move into a convent and become a midwife in London’s East End slums. While delivering babies all over the city, Jenny encounters a colorful cast of … encounters a colorful cast of women—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 of the city’s seedier side.
An unfortgettable story of motherhood, the bravery of a community, and the strength of remarkable and inspiring women, Call the Midwife is the true story behind the beloved PBS series, which will soon return for its sixth season.
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So touching. Life birth loss hope courage. Peopled by the most amazing characters. I can’t say enough about how touching this book is. And there are two more in the series. I’ve finished the second. More amazing and heart touching people. Have some tissue handy.
Loved this book. Baught the tv series from PBS!
I love the tv series. This book, as it should, adds so much more. The life of the people served by the midwives is horrible and tragic. This book is an easy, enjoyable, informative read despite the difficulty of the situations.
Reading “Call the Midwife” was reading history from a personal point of view. Learning how people lived, what was expected of them, and how they handled different crisis and for the most part, kept a smile.
boring
If you liked the series you’ll like the book. The book actually does a better job of describing the poverty and terrible situations of some of the people than the TV series does.
A terrific book – not only about being a midwife in post-war Britain, but about the relationships between the intriguing characters.
The only thing I have to say against it is that it ends abruptly.
Now that I’ve read the book, I plan to watch the show.
Love the book and TV show both, although, the show is viewed through more rose colored glasses
Loved it!!!
This was a great read. I never thought about how far ob/gyn care has come. It was informative, but I also got caught up in the characters and their lives. A great read.
Fantastic read.
These characters are wonderful. This book is written by one of the midwives. You really feel like you have gone back in time.
Real life is always grittier than the TV version, and that is true of this book. The stories were uplifting/sad/funny/and very real. The book was a great change of pace, and I recommend it.
The author does a wonderful job of getting across the lives of the poorer people, especially pregnant women, in a fictional part of London during the late 1950’s into the mid-60’s.
The heart-warming story is similar yet different from the Masterpiece Theater version. More detail is given to explain why things happened the way they did. And some of the characters are very different from the TV show.
The pathos of the incredibly hard lives the women led and the godsend the Midwives of Nonnatis House were to them makes reading this book a vety uplifting story indeed.
I loved the PBS series but as usual liked the book even more.
This story of London’s East End after WW II is so different to
the usual small town or rural England stories. The characters
we’re so well developed and gave me great appreciation for
the sisters and nurses who often worked under such difficult
conditions.
I love the TV show based on this. But this was even more interesting. It is not character driven, but you can picture the characters that the TV characters are based on. It’s informative about the real problems and lives from that era. There are a couple of more in the series I hope to read later
I loved the book. It made me find the PBS Series Call the Midwife. The heartbreaking stories of the early suffering of women in childbirth and the challenges of raising the children during a World War, and finding something bright and good in the world. Please read
Loved this book! Looking forward to reading the others!
I read all three books and I had trouble putting them down. I highly recommend.
Wonderful historical fiction of nursing in England during WW2