In this third book, Jennifer Worth largely reverts to the format of ‘daily’ life based around the life of the convent, and some of the more memorable, less straightforward, deliveries that she and her fellow midwives were called upon to perform. She doesn’t entirely abandon her portrayal of extreme social hardship, so graphically and vividly portrayed her second book, “Shadows of the Workhouse.’ While this sounds horrific, these kids were much better off than the orphaned ones. They went to “the workhouse”, where they were separated from their siblings and raised in what was the equivalent of prison.

She adds: “When Jennifer was alive, I wanted to cry out to her to talk to me. Perhaps she felt the same. Or perhaps she understood – as I do now – that it was what was unsaid, rather than any words that passed between us, that mattered the most. A deep and enduring love.” Also in the first book, Ms Worth takes the reader with her on a bicycling tour (the nuns used bicycles to get around), witnessing what it was truly like to be a midwife in some of the most harrowing circumstances. Women gave birth in the most deplorable conditions in tenements which were overcrowded and filthy… some of which were the remainders of buildings which had actually suffered damage from German bombs during World War II. Ms Worth relates humorous tales and tales that will absolutely break your heart. I couldn't help but feel such sadness at the thought of each new child fighting his way into a life full of such squalor and desperation. It seems to me that with as difficult as life can be, at the very least, EVERY child should enter the world in much better circumstances. In 'Shadows of the Workhouse', Ms. Worth relates a number of heartbreaking stories of people she met who had been housed in these workhouses; and it was clear that if you had the misfortune of entering these institutions as a child, you would come out of the experience forever changed and sometimes irreparably broken. Ms. Worth writes…."For the working class, life was nasty, brutal and short. Hunger and hardships were expected. Men were old at forty. women worn out at thirty-five. The death of children were taken for granted. Poverty was frankly regarded as a moral defect……" Christine’s book, The Midwife’s Sister, charts the years, including her mother’s second marriage – which brought more unhappiness for her daughters – her father’s new wife and the arrival of two half-sisters. Similarly, the varying roles of the nurses of Nonnatus House—including home visits for the elderly and infirm as well as prenatal care—would have been representative of the kind of work nurses during the time period would have done as part of the National Health Service or NHS. The NHS was instituted after the end of WWII as part of the UK's welfare state in an effort to ensure that all Britains had access to medical care.Jenny was wonderful to visit him and strike up a friendship, but even that at the end wasn't enough when he was forced to move from his home to live in a miserable old people institution. He could have had a comfortable and peaceful death in his own home, instead he had nothing but misery… After everything he went through, the loss of his family, and his years of loneliness he deserved so much more. It was such a painful story. Yet in all probability it will be as a major historical document that her trilogy enjoys its most enduring reputation. By the late 1950s slum clearance and comprehensive redevelopment were starting to transform large parts (including Poplar) of the East End, far more effectively than the Luftwaffe had ever managed; and by the end of the 1960s they were almost wholly unrecognisable from the intimate, squalid, overcrowded, intensely human environment that had sprung up during the 19th century and then stayed largely unchanged. Oh, no, we were valued and respected. But it was not until the beginning of the last century that midwifery as a profession came to be taken seriously. That’s only a hundred years ago, in thousands of years of human history. As such, this book might usefully be required educational reading for every budding social worker, nurse, and care worker.

Others have noticed that the tales of people Worth couldn't possibly have known when they were young have been rather heavily embroidered, and I think we stray more into fiction than memoir at various points. But that doesn't make the stories any less entertaining, indeed compelling, and this book gets five stars simply for being a goldmine of great stories centered around the East End, complete with vivid renderings of dialect and slang.

Success!

Worth died on 31 May 2011, having been diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus earlier in the year. Follows on a brother and sister who escape from the workhouse and become a couple living together, with a tragic end. For years, I had wondered why I could not get near my sister, and had never felt able to ask her. The wall she constructed around herself was too solid to breach. Now I understood why she was so remote. She was much too proud to ever have told me how she really felt. What I can say is that even knowing what I do now does not change the way I feel about her. I loved her, and I know that she loved me.” Discuss the Church’s decision to take away Mary’s baby. Would she have been able to provide for it without turning to prostitution?

Interestingly my own mother-in-law, who died in 1997 aged 82, was petrified of going into hospital because she associated with the Workhouse. Eventually she did go into hospital, but she was so terrified and distraught - even though the hospital was very nice - that in the end we had to arrange for her to come and spend her last days in our home with nurses coming in several times a day, and only then did she calm down. Worth, Jennifer (2007). Eczema and Food Allergy: The Hidden Cause?: My Story. Merton Books. ISBN 978-1872560182. There are also lively stories of Sister Monica Joan, who discovered the joys of taking a cab ride instead of the bus, and we learn about the woman who ran the local pub. The end of the book discusses how the neighborhood changed in the 1960s, and why the midwives and nuns eventually closed their practice. While St. Raymond Nonnatus, for whom the show's house is named, is indeed the saint of midwives and pregnant women, the building the midwives of Poplar call home doesn't actually exist.The first book read more like a memoir whereas this one at times read like a fiction book, especially Jane/Frank/Peggy's part. Even though their story was true, I wasn't convinced by Jenny writing from their perspective as if she herself had lived through their experiences, it made everything come across as false and exaggerated. I mean, how did Jenny know exactly what Jane was doing/feeling/thinking as a child? How did she know the things that young Jane did? I doubt meek Jane confided in her about things she thought were humiliating and best forgotten. And how did she know about Frank and Peggy's private relationship? I find it highly unlikely that they explained their incestuous relationship in detail to someone they just worked with. Sure, older Jane/Peggy/Frank probably mentioned things in passing about their adult life and childhood in the workhouse but they wouldn't have shared anything deep or meaningful with her. The stuff Jenny wrote was obviously her own take on Jane and co, and because of that it didn't feel like a wholly truthful account. Jennifer in Devon in 1956, 20 years old and training to be a nurse. Photo: The Midwifes Sister/Christine Lee (Image: Archant) To review this third book on its own is difficult, because my overall response will likely have been shaped by reading the other two books, and, a year ago, viewing the first BBCTV series. I really loved the very, very, funny (but oh so true to life) account of Chummy & David’s marriage, and the meeting of the two families eyeing each other up in church during the marriage service, and how (up to a point) the monumental differences between the upper and working classes were in part healed at the wedding reception afterwards. I don’t want to give too much away. Read it for yourself. I am now looking forward to reading the last in Jennifer Worth's trilogy "Farewell to the East End" to complete the set. Summary: Jennifer Worth's memoirs of her time as a midwife in the East End of London in the 1950s. There's stories of herself, her patients, and the nuns she lives and works with… And they're all great.

I know some readers took exception with a vividly described scene of a young girl's induction into prostitution. This was also a very memorable episode arc in the show. I think Jennifer Worth is to be commended for showing how gritty life could really be in the East End. While the show never attempts to shy away from the harsh realities that people were living in at the time, it's Jennifer Worth's words that really drive home the spirit of what the East End women really endured. No matter how harsh the realities are, new life endures, and with it, new hope.The structure of the book is anecdotal, but even I who dislikes short stories, was in no way disappointed. The sisters of the convent become as members of a family, each with their own idiosyncrasies. Each child born is a wonder. And Jennifer, the author, is surprisingly honest about her own weaknesses and failings.