Call the midwife

Call the midwife is the first book in a series, based on real encounters and experiences of Jennifer Worth. The book is essentially Jennifer’s, or as she refers to herself Jenny’s, memoirs describing her life in her early twenties when she was a hard working midwife in the East End of London. At this time she was living in and working for Nonnatus house, and in the book she tells about her colleagues, friends and even patients. She gives a very broad and clear perspective of how hard times were during the 1950s.

Less than a decade had passed since the second world war had ended and it had left some deep scars in especially the East end of London. Throughout the book Jenny tells different stories of how she and the other midwives had to deliver many babies in houses where there weren't any running water and how babies were born in slum conditions. It becomes obvious how difficult it was for the majority of the middle- and working class families, trying to make ends meet in poverty. She tells about all kinds of stories and a lot of it can be tear- jerking for good or bad but she does throw in the laughs and the smiles to tell how people tried to wrestle their very hard lives, by still being optimistic and never giving up.

I think that this book was very well written and once you started reading, it was hard to stop. Her way of describing the setting and the atmosphere is so well executed that you sometimes feel like you were there. And she is skilled in portraying the characters with depth but still not going into complicated details. But what I find to be the key to her successful writing is simply how honest she is. She tells the story raw and as it was, without sugarcoating anything nor by exaggerating, but by simply telling the truth. This is what makes the book so interesting and gripping, she has a knack for telling stories clear and straightforward but still with all of its complex feeling and emotions.

In conclusion this is a great book and is definitely worth a read.
 
//Fikon