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Shadows of the Workhouse (The Midwife Trilogy #2)
In this follow up to CALL THE MIDWIFE, Jennifer Worth, a midwife working in the docklands area of East London in the 1950s tells more stories about the people she encountered. There's Jane, who cleaned and generally helped out at Nonnatus House - she was taken to the workhouse as a baby and was allegedly the illegitimate daughter of an aristocrat. Peggy and Frank's parents...more
Paperback, 293 pages
Published
2005
by Phoenix
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This is a charming book. It is the memories of a woman who was a young midwife in the 50s in the post-war, poverty-stricken East End of London where little had moved on since Edwardian and even Victorian times. She worked and lived in a convent of nursing nuns and writes both of her patients in the community and their colourful, if difficult lives, and the nuns she lives with. Generally speaking, memoirs of the religious life show nuns in a somewhat dour, if respectful, light. Jennifer Worth rat...more
Not quite as gripping as the first book in the series, but still an excellent read.
The first section, dealing most specifically with the children of the workhouse, was horrifying and heartbreaking to read. Unfortunately, the very style that Worth employs to make it more real and personal - telling the stories from the children's perspective - also works against her in making it seem more like fiction. That's the difficulty, I think, in trying to include other people's lives in a memoir. I did en...more
The first section, dealing most specifically with the children of the workhouse, was horrifying and heartbreaking to read. Unfortunately, the very style that Worth employs to make it more real and personal - telling the stories from the children's perspective - also works against her in making it seem more like fiction. That's the difficulty, I think, in trying to include other people's lives in a memoir. I did en...more
Jennifer Worth worked as a midwife and nurse with an order of nuns in the 1950s. I loved her previous book, The Midwife. In this book, she revisits the setting and many of the same people. It is not all about the workhouse, as I expected from the title, but about the times and culture in which the workhouse existed up into the 1950s. It tells the stories of several people whom the author met while doing her work: Three people who spent their childhoods in the workhouse and were close to each oth...more
I thoroughly enjoyed "Call the Midwife" and started this follow up to it with great expectations. The problem was I'd also seen the BBC mini-series based on these books and found too much of the book familiar. But that's not the author's fault, except that her prose this time just didn't seem to grab me as it did in the first book. While I read her first book in a day or so, it took me weeks to get around to finishing this one.
And as another reviewer pointed out, this one just didn't feel as tr...more
And as another reviewer pointed out, this one just didn't feel as tr...more
Nurse Jenny Lee (Worth) didn't only deliver "babbies" for the East Enders in post-WW II London; when she separated her shoulder, the good nuns of Nonnatus House put her on lighter duty, which put her in contact with some of the interesting characters in this, the second in the Call the Midwife trilogy. As usual, the stories are compelling and the writing quite good, but there are long, semi-tiresome stretches when she devolves into pages and pages of historical info about the workhouses, the dif...more
This is the second book by Jennifer Worth about her time as a midwife in London's East End during the 1950s. I loved the first book, Call the Midwife, and this one didn't disappoint either. Once again, Worth recounts the grinding poverty and unimaginable living conditions of the day. Once again, I'm astounded that this is a time within living memory and not some distant century; my mother would have been a young girl then.
As in Call the Midwife, there is a lot of background information about th...more
As in Call the Midwife, there is a lot of background information about th...more
Dec 30, 2012
^
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Especially to social workers, nurses, and care workers
A deeply eye-opening and very emotionally moving book.
Laid out in three parts, this volume essentially contains six true stories: Jane’s life at Nonnatus Convent; the upbringing in the workhouse of Jane, Frank and Peggy; the deaths of Frank and Peggy; the marriage of the Revd. Mr Applebee-Thornton; the court trial of Sister Monica Joan; and the life and death of the old soldier, Mr Joseph Collett. The third, fifth, and sixth of those are covered in the first series (2012) of the BBC television...more
Laid out in three parts, this volume essentially contains six true stories: Jane’s life at Nonnatus Convent; the upbringing in the workhouse of Jane, Frank and Peggy; the deaths of Frank and Peggy; the marriage of the Revd. Mr Applebee-Thornton; the court trial of Sister Monica Joan; and the life and death of the old soldier, Mr Joseph Collett. The third, fifth, and sixth of those are covered in the first series (2012) of the BBC television...more
Jul 05, 2010
Dawn
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Everyone should read it
Recommended to Dawn by:
No-one
Shelves:
biography
I love this author - she writes so redemptively. The author chronicles a lot of sadness of the poor in this book and it will take a few days for some of it to sink in, and parts of the book really affected me emotionally.
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...more
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...more
This is the weakest of the three books written by Jennifer Worth about her experiences in the East End. I read the other two first. The stories she tells are interesting and sobering in light of the cruel and ignorant statements I see today about those who, for a variety of reasons, cannot make the transition to the economy of the 21st century. The harshness of the work house seems only a step away today. I think we are still dealing with the dislocation of lifestyle and vocation that began in t...more
Feb 27, 2013
Lee Anne
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
borrowed-not-bought
This is the follow-up, and also the basis of the PBS series.
I didn't like it as much as the first, although some of that might be blamed on having read the first volume in a concentrated time period (I was on vacation and breezed right through it); back to work, it took me a lot longer to finish this one. However, this book is also slightly different in style, trading short anecdotes about the pregnant women of the East End for longer stories of the older people in Jenny's life. The first part...more
I didn't like it as much as the first, although some of that might be blamed on having read the first volume in a concentrated time period (I was on vacation and breezed right through it); back to work, it took me a lot longer to finish this one. However, this book is also slightly different in style, trading short anecdotes about the pregnant women of the East End for longer stories of the older people in Jenny's life. The first part...more
This is Worth's second book about East London, her memoirs are so vivid and interesting. She writes as if it is all happening right now, as if she's stepping out of not only her own past, but the past of some of the people she knew during her time serving as a nurse in London's Docklands.
This book is split into three very distinct stories, all different and about different characters she knew. She gives you a real sense of understanding about the types of lives the people she writes about lived,...more
This book is split into three very distinct stories, all different and about different characters she knew. She gives you a real sense of understanding about the types of lives the people she writes about lived,...more
This is a followup to Worth’s novel Call the Midwife, and it continues in the same vein: telling the stories of poor people living in London’s East End in the 1950’s. There is very little here about Worth’s work as a nurse and midwife, which is what attracted me to the first novel. The first season of the BBC television series seems to cover both of these books and possibly the third one as well.
As the title implies, this volume is mostly about people who lived in workhouses in the early 20th ce...more
As the title implies, this volume is mostly about people who lived in workhouses in the early 20th ce...more
Of course, when "Call the Midwife" ended, I was hungry for more. I immediately ordered the other two books in the trilogy, and no. 2 is done. Can't wait to pick up no. 3. There is less of the midwifery in this book, rather stories about the people Jenny encountered in her service. Three children who were products of the horrible workhouse (poorhouse) who bonded in a way only tragedy can do; a sweet old soldier who fought in the Boer War, who Jenny comes to love; poor, senile (?) Sister Monica Jo...more
I have watched this series on PBS and was entranced, so reading the memoir was just and added bonus! It did not let me down. Of course there was some duplication, but it was sweet to hear more details about the very characters I had come to love on the series. It is a compelling narrative about the midwives in East London in the 1950's. Boy, have we ladies come a long way since then; both in birthing and contraception just to name two. It is a fascinating peek into a time not so long ago...unfor...more
For some bizarre reason, my Kindle edition of the Call the Midwives collection places this book third, rather than second, so I unfortunately read them out of sequence. I would have enjoyed the final book more if I had picked up on the problem sooner. The horrors of the Workhouse and war make for solemn reading but the spirit these folk had to keep them going kept the tone of the books lighter than to be expected. I enjoyed there being three main parts to the book, with further detail given to t...more
I am completely intrigued by the story of the midwives; what brought them to the Nonnatus House and the lives of the people they served. Jane's story completely brought me to tears. The times were hard, people had to be hard but there was so much suffering that my heartaches for the times. The author does a wonderful job of rewinding life so that you can imagine the deplorable conditions, the struggles, the people and how hard life is for so many.
The book is compiled into three different part....more
The book is compiled into three different part....more
Apr 15, 2013
Eddy Allen
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
arts-and-historical
In this follow up to CALL THE MIDWIFE, Jennifer Worth, a midwife working in the docklands area of East London in the 1950s tells more stories about the people she encountered. There's Jane, who cleaned and generally helped out at Nonnatus House - she was taken to the workhouse as a baby and was allegedly the illegitimate daughter of an aristocrat. Peggy and Frank's parents both died within 6 months of each other and the children were left destitute. At the time, there was no other option for the...more
Unlike "The Midwife", I enjoyed (if you can say that about such a sobering book) all of "Shadows of the Workhouse". It covers three major stories told in the TV series (Peggy and Frank - who, yes, were brother and sister and yes, lived as husband and wife, Sister Monica Joan's trial, and Mr. Collett's friendship with Jenny Lee), as well as the sad/happy story of Jane (which I don't recall being covered - yet - in the show).
Just as she did in "The Midwife", Worth does a fantastic job of simply te...more
Just as she did in "The Midwife", Worth does a fantastic job of simply te...more
This is the second book by Jennifer Worth that I have read. I thought that I would like another book by this author and was not disappointed. The first section of the book was hard to read. The story Worth told of children's experiences in the workhouse was terrible. I almost stopped reading because it bothered me so much. Fortunately I continued and found a happy ending to a horrible situation. The next two sections were a little more light hearted, but still presented challenges faced by peopl...more
I have been watching TV programme "Call The Midwife" based on books by Jennifer Worth. This book is second in the series, and some of the life stories here have been shown on the TV programme. What struck me most, was how dreadful conditions were in the workhouses, right up to the 1930s. After that, they were not closed down, but renamed. Mrs Worth writes very realistically, and I enjoyed the book. Very sad stories of children who were sent to the workhouse when their parents died, or could no l...more
This book is split into three parts, the first being about three people who had spent their time in workhouses and how it affected their lives. This was horrific reading at times, but interesting.
The second is about the trial of a nun who the author worked with, which I found quite tedious at times.
The third part was about an elderly gentleman that the author treated which was an interesting story and he reminded me of my father-in-law.
Overall an interesting read but with not a huge amount of wo...more
The second is about the trial of a nun who the author worked with, which I found quite tedious at times.
The third part was about an elderly gentleman that the author treated which was an interesting story and he reminded me of my father-in-law.
Overall an interesting read but with not a huge amount of wo...more
I enjoyed this follow-up to Call the Midwife. This was a little less about her own experiences as a midwife and more about a few of her more interesting patients. The stories read a little more like fiction, and I am sure she took a few liberties, especially with The Workhouse Children, as there are things she described she couldn't possibly know. Apparently in addition to her ability to help people in the direst of circumstances (and sometimes very disgusting circumstances) she has a talent for...more
I blame the musical, Oliver. We have such an airbrushed idea of what Victorian workhouses were like. Yes, they were terrible places, but children burst into song and the beadle was a figure to ridicule. Shadows of the Workhouse, Worth's second in her four volume memoir, sets the record straight. Real workhouses were Christian concentration camps, where unwanted parts of the population were sent to work and live in appalling conditions until they died. This was a compelling read, and the added pe...more
I love this series and would give this a 5/5 as well, but in telling the stories of those who lived in the workhouses, I was well aware of the artistic license Jenny took when telling the stories of Jane, Peggy, and Frank. It didn't match well with her personal, direct experiences with other families. While it was eye-opening historically, it did make me question the truth of what she was saying.
In the end, isn't all history some rendition of the truth? This is still a great book that will leave...more
In the end, isn't all history some rendition of the truth? This is still a great book that will leave...more
“Shadows of the Workhouse is the second book in a trilogy of memoirs written by Jennifer Worth, who worked in the East End of London as a midwife and nurse during the 1950s.
This book was written in the same anecdotal style as her first book, “Call the Midwife”, telling of some of the characters she met and had dealings with. She included a chapter on the history of the workhouses - the Victorian answer of what to do with the poorest people in society. This did not make comfortable reading - con...more
This book was written in the same anecdotal style as her first book, “Call the Midwife”, telling of some of the characters she met and had dealings with. She included a chapter on the history of the workhouses - the Victorian answer of what to do with the poorest people in society. This did not make comfortable reading - con...more
It starts out really well, a fascinating insight into what it was like to live in a workhouse in Victorian England. However, it lost it's way after the halfway mark. Though as alwyas,her characters are interesting, too much time was spent on a subjec that holds no interest for me (I am not giving it away here so no spoilers) and which has nothing to do with the workhouse. I still enjoyd the book to a degree, but doubt I will read any more of hers after this (having read her previous book too).
This is the second of the Midwife trilogy. It details the horrors of the Workhouse and the several former inmates who still live in the East End. Worth not only tells the life stories of these people but also the history of these institutions, which as is often the case, began as a way to help the indigent during the Industrial Revolution and ended up as prisons complete with petty tyrants as directors where people were starved, beaten and forced to do meaningless labor.
Jennifer Worth carries on her tales of colleagues and patients in this second book of the "Call the Midwife"trillogy. If ever I think my life is crappy, I'll read this book again. If people of my generation had to endure a tenth of the hardship the poverty-stricken people of East end London did, I don't think we'd know how to cope. Worth weaves enchanting tales of love, perseverance, heartache, cruelty, suffering, friendship, and loyalty. I enjoy the TV series, but I absolutely love the books.
I didn't find this as good as the first book in the series. Perhaps that's because it only tells three stories and two of them, the stories of the workhouse children Jane, Frank and Peggy, and the story of the old soldier Joe Collett, are stories that the author was told, rather than things she experienced herself. This book lacked the immediacy of the first. But it's still an interesting and moving read, and a great argument for the National Health and the Welfare State.
I read the first book and really liked it and recently started watching the TV show and wanted to finish the series. I am slightly annoyed that the TV show jumps around from book to book so I had already watched some of these stories before I read them. True to form though the book is better than the movie (or TV show in this case). The writing is well developed but easy to follow and the stories and bits of history are captivating. I am looking forward to reading the third and final book in the...more
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Worth, born Jennifer Lee while her parents were on holiday in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, was raised in Amersham, Buckinghamshire. After leaving school at the age of 14, she learned shorthand and typing and became the secretary to the head of Dr Challoner's Grammar School. She then trained as a nurse at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading, and moved to London to receive training to become a midwife.
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“Bah! Suffragettes. I've no time for suffragettes. They made the biggest mistake in history. They went for equality. They should have gone for power!”
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