If you have seen "Call the Midwife" on Netflix (or on BBC, when it was playing), you are one step ahead of this post. My mom mentioned the show several months ago, and one day, while Jeremy was in class, I decided it was time to try it. Truly, it is AWESOME. I immediately fell in love with the characters and their stories.
For the uninitiated, "Call the Midwife" follows nurse Jenny Lee (center in the picture above) and her fellow midwives who work in a convent. They are in the slums of London in the 1950's, and the challenges they face are incredible. Not only was this a fascinating series, but from what I understand, it is pretty accurate to the time period. And--if you allow me a moment to gush--I LOVE the clothes and hair of the fifties. It really doesn't have much to do with the story, but look at Nurse jenny lee in the picture below. She is beautiful, and I want that dress. However, yellow looks terrible on me, so I will settle for learning how to do the hair.
Anyway, So the series ran for three (short) seasons, and after I watched the series, I found myself wanting to know more. Luckily for me, "Call the Midwife" is based on a book that Jennifer Worth (Who actually was Jenny Lee, until she got married) wrote about Midwifery. The Midwife is the memoir she wrote, because she wanted people to learn about the truths of Midwifery.
Disclaimer: There are actually two books you can find by Jennifer Worth. One is The Midwife, which is the original, and one is actually a series--Call the Midwife. The Midwife was written before BBC came out with the series, and is a single book. Call the Midwife is a trilogy--the first book is identical to The Midwife, as far as I could tell. The table of contents was identical. I don't know anything about the other two books. I decided to start small, and go for the original. If anyone decides to read the series, you should tell me if it is similar to the original.
I loved the book! Jennifer's voice is so engaging, it felt like I was there in the situation. Although many characters are introduced, then left behind, it doesn't feel like your head is overloaded with names and places. In a way, I suppose it feels much like what a midwife would experience--where you get to witness just one small glimpse of a life, and that glimpse changes that family forever.
There was a huge mix of emotions in this book--there were beautiful stories, and there were sad stories. There were graphic stories, and there were terrifying stories. I am forever grateful that I did not pick up this book while pregnant, because there is a story about a woman who gets "Eclampsia," which is a rare, incurable disease that affects women who are pregnant. *Shudder.* But overall, the stories were so great that it didn't read like a memoir; it read like historical fiction, and after finishing, I want to know more.
Please read this book--it is amazing! And then talk to me about it, because no one else I know has read it yet, and I am dying to discuss this with someone!!
Happy reading!
