Customer's review

Both heart-warming and heart-breaking at once

Matthew Parris states in the blurb on the back of the book that reading this made him cry on a crowded train. It managed to make me burst into floods of tears in the middle of Schipol Airport at 6am - not many books manage to make me cry anywhere - let alone in public. It's a wonderfully evocative read, based on Worth's life working as midwife in 1950s London. The fascinatingly detailed descriptions of the housing, the patients, the costermongers and the nuns make the book quite un-put-down-able I found. The story of Sister Monica Joan is poignant yet makes you smile with every other line, whereas the story of Joe is heartbreaking from the off. I can't wait for the next instalment of Worth's memoirs!

An excellent follow up to Call the Midwife... can't wait for the third book

I read this book in 24 hours- I just could not put it down. I had high expectations, having "enjoyed" Call the Midwife. I say "enjoyed" because I also found it horrifying and I cried over the stories of Mary and Mrs Jenkins.

This book doesn't disappoint, and the stories of Jane, Peggy and Frank are just as compelling. It's written in the same style as Call the Midwife so you can really get your teeth into a character's story in each chapter.

The stories are not as bleak as CTM's- Jane finds love in later life which finally helps to restore the sparkle she lost when she was badly beaten and humiliated in the workhouse. Peggy and Frank have each other, and Joseph Collett doesn't see his own situation as bleak, and is appreciative of the filthy tenement rooms that he's been given. His story is fascinating and I think the friendship between him and Jennifer is beautifully portrayed, especially the incident in the final pages of the book.

The only gripe I have is that I thought a lot of pages were wasted on the trial of Sister Monica Joan, which I didn't find as fascinating as the author I'm afraid. But it's a small gripe, and all adds to the characters of the nuns of Nonnatus House.

Jennifer Worth is very fair in her description of workhouses. They served a purpose, even though they were ill thought out and socially destructive to those who were ripped apart from their family members. Descriptions of life in the workhouse are well written and the most grisly details are in general spared us although clearly implied- the sexual abuse that was alluded to in Frank's story for example.

I want more! I can't wait for the third book. Jennifer Worth must have thousands of stories in her head of the people she met- I want to hear them all.

A Truly Definitive Account of the Meaning of Poverty

I was born in the East End in the 1950's, and still live there. However, Jennifer's account has brought to life the tales my parents and grandparents told me about how much a struggle life was for so many people, barely a bus ride from where I was living. Jennifer's portrayal of Mr. Collet's demise in an 'old folk's home', in the 60's, which was little better than the workhouses of 30 years previously starkly reminds us that man's inhumanity to man can come in many different forms, no matter how affluent / civilised / reformed our societies pretend to be. This book should be read by anyone who works in public office, if only to remind them that the attitudes and conditions of the recent past have not gone away; they're still out there and will come back if we allow them to.
Jennifer's comparison of modern East London tower blocks and housing estates taking the place of the old tenements tells us that rather than improving conditions, society has simply torn down the old and replaced them with tacky copies. Jennifer Worth should have gone into politics, for judging from her excellent books, this is one person who would have made a real difference. Next time I travel through Poplar, Limehouse and Stepney, I will now do so with a new interest.

midwifery in the raw

This is a excellent book in many ways. It tells of a young woman's training in midwifery, undertaken under the supervision of an order of nuns whose mission was nursing and midwifery, in the poverty of east end London in the 1950's. If you are a training midwife (as I am) some of the discriptions are truly horrifying - watching a young woman die of eclampsia, stillbirths and diseases that you will never see in Britain today. It also shows how midwifery used to be practised in this country, in a time when midwives were independent and worked alone, when most women gave birth at home (sucessfully). As a social document it is also incredibly valuable - a discription of the devastation that workhouses left in their wake is a valuable reminder of how we used to treat poor people in this country, and how we must not allow shallow prejudices about teenage mothers and single parents (so easily scapegoated!) let us treat them as lesser, non-citizens. Also a useful reminder of how "the good old days" are a myth - things are better now in many ways, and there were teenage mums, drugs, prostitution and people trafficking then, too. I heartily recommend this to any one interested in midwifery, social history, and women's studies.

I will never complain about my life being hard ever again!

If you enjoyed Call the Midwife, you will definately enjoy this book, although the content is not midwifery related. There are three parts to the book, each containing stories of people who the author had known through her work.

Her descriptions of the hardship and poverty of early 1900's London, along with personal tragedy and sacrifice will make you weep, and feel thankful to be living in the 21st Century.

- Frank and Peggy, brother and sister, separated from their parents by death and then from each other by the workhouse... courage, hope, joy, and a real tear-jerker ending.

- Joe Collett - this story is a testament to the truly caring and generous spirit of the author - she goes above and beyond the call of duty in my opinion to befriend an old man - and hears a tale of army life and family courage spanning three wars, with more than a touch of tragedy along the way.

Beautifully written, I could not put it down.

Shadows Of The Workhouse: The Drama Of Life In Postwar London: The Drama of Life in Postwar London

Customer's review

Both heart-warming and heart-breaking at once

An excellent follow up to Call the Midwife... can't wait for the third book

A Truly Definitive Account of the Meaning of Poverty

midwifery in the raw

I will never complain about my life being hard ever again!

Related article

A Midwife's Story

Ma, He Sold Me for a Few Cigarettes

Victorian Workhouse (My Story) (My Story)

At My Mother's Knee ...

No Way Home: The Terrifying Story of Life in a Children's Home and a Little Girl's Struggle to Survive

Related topic

Waterstones.com: Biography: Shadows ...

Shadows Of The Workhouse-The Drama ...

Shadows Of The Workhouse-The Drama ...

Amazon.co.uk: Shadows Of The ...

Shadows Of The Workhouse: The Drama ...

Shadows of the Workhouse: Jennifer ...

The London bookstore - Shadows Of ...

Shadows of the Workhouse: The Drama ...

Shadows of the Workhouse - Blackwell ...

Buy Jennifer Worth - Shadows of the ...

Shadows of the Workhouse: The Drama ...

Shadows of the Workhouse in ...

Countrybookshop.co.uk - Shadows of ...

Housework at the workhouse Norma ...

"Shadows of the Workhouse" - a ...

The Book Depository - Book Details ...

Shadows of the Workhouse :...

Bedlam: London and Its Mad by ...

[e-Library OPAC] iBistro at the ...

GSM mobiles: Books: Shadows Of The ...