Call the Midwife

Depressed over the finale of Downton Abbey?  Seaching for something uniquely British to fill the gap until next January?  Look no further than your local PBS station for Call the Midwife.

Yes, Call the Midwife is a show on PBS, but it started out as a series of books by Jennifer Worth.  Call the Midwife,  Shadows of the Workhouse, and Farewell to the East End chronicle Jennifer's own experiences as a midwife in 1950's London.  But she didn't work in any old part of London, she worked in the poor and war-torn East End.  I don't think any of us could imagine the conditions in which most families lived at this time and in this place.  Populated with dock workers, laborers and their extended families, many of the worst tenements had no running water, and everyone in the building shared an outhouse.  The newer terraced homes had their own bathrooms, but every home was jam-packed with adults and children. Just twenty-two when she started, Jennifer Worth and her fellow midwives rode their bikes all over the East End sharing the joys and heartbreaks of their grateful patients.  Oh, I forgot to mention that she lived in a convent of Episcopalian nuns who were also midwives.  They tend to steal the show and the stories in the book. Oh, Sister Monica Joan, how I love thee!

I have seen all of the episodes of Call the Midwife on either pbs.org or Netflix.  I have only read the first book in the trilogy, but look forward to the next two.  The series follows the stories and characters in the books very well, with some interesting embellishments. I love it all, and can't wait for the next season.  Hope you agree...TBC