Farewell to the East End

by Jennifer Worth

Other authorsTerri Coates
Paper Book, 2013

Status

Available

Call number

618.20092

Collection

Publication

New York : Ecco/HarperCollins, [2013], ©2005.

Description

Biography & Autobiography. History. Medical. Nonfiction. HTML: The last book in the trilogy begun by Jennifer Worth's New York Times bestseller and the basis for the PBS series Call the Midwife When twenty-two-year-old Jennifer Worth, from a comfortable middle-class upbringing, went to work as a midwife in the poorest section of postwar London, she not only delivered hundreds of babies and touched many lives, she also became the neighborhood's most vivid chronicler. Call the Midwife: Farewell to the East End is the last book in Worth's memoir trilogy, which the Times Literary Supplement described as "powerful stories with sweet charm and controlled outrage" in the face of dire circumstances. Here, at last, is the full story of Chummy's delightful courtship and wedding. We also meet Megan'mave, identical twins who share a browbeaten husband, and return to Sister Monica Joan, who is in top eccentric form. As in Worth's first two books, Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times and Call the Midwife: Shadows of the Workhouse, the vividly portrayed denizens of a postwar East End contend with the trials of extreme poverty--unsanitary conditions, hunger, and disease--and find surprising ways to thrive in their tightly knit community. A rich portrait of a bygone era of comradeship and midwifery populated by unforgettable characters, Call the Midwife: Farewell to the East End will appeal to readers of Frank McCourt, Katherine Boo, and James Herriot, as well as to the fans of the acclaimed PBS show based on the trilogy..… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member MarysGirl
This third installment wraps up Worth's series of memoirs set in London's East End in the 1950's. It's a mix of odds and ends stories, all interesting in their own right, but providing little narrative cohesion--which is perfectly OK. I think she wanted to wrap up the loose ends and get a couple
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more patient stories in front of readers. My favorite part was the end where she gave us summaries of what happened to all the major nurse and nun characters. But I would have liked to know what happened to Mrs. B and Fred, as well.

Having watched the series on TV before reading the books, it was fun to see how the TV writers dealt with the material: combining some characters, switching others, but ultimately staying true to the original story telling which focused on the effects of grinding poverty, poor housing, and lack of education. The flip side is the obvious affection Worth had for the resilience, good humor, and hope of the people who had to soldier through what today would be considered intolerable conditions. A very worthwhile series, easy reading, but touches a resonant chord in modern times.
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LibraryThing member bertonex19
Being quite interested in the days gone by... i stumbled across this book a while ago by chance, the book itself contains the memoirs of a young midwife. The book was wonderful and easy to read probably because it feels a little like a diary of events. The book is ideal to pick up and put down as
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the chapters are broken down detailing individual cases / patients. The recent tv series that was adapted from the book was also entertaining and casting Miranda Hart as Chummy was spot on
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LibraryThing member michigantrumpet
The third of Jennifer Worth's memoirs of her times as a nurse/midwife in London's 1950's East End.. Her books have been the basis of the wildly popular series "Call the Midwife." Her very personal stories about her friends and their patients are interspersed with discourses on poverty, birth
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control, abortion, and tuberculosis. I found the personal stories far more successful and grew to love Trixie, Cynthia, Chummy and Sister Monica Joan and the other nuns of St. Nonantus House.
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LibraryThing member RubyScarlett
This is a less linear account of Jennifer's days as a midwife but the book is full of anecdotes about various people she describes so well I was interested in all of them. I particularly loved the end where she explains what happened to everyone and ultimately to Poplar. I thoroughly enjoyed her
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memoirs - she is infinitely wise and is an excellent storyteller. I will miss these dearly. If you are whatsoever interested in women's lives, pick up these books.
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LibraryThing member etxgardener
This is the last of the three books in Jennifer Worth's trilogy about her life as a midwife in London's East End, and this book is the weakest of the three. While some of the stories from the television series are here, there is way too much technical jargon, as well as expository chapters about
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the conditions of London's East End, medical practices, etc. for this to be a truly enjoyable read.

I did, however, like reading the real story of Chummy's romance with the policeman and the further stories of Sister Monica Joan, and as such it's a good companion to the televised series.
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LibraryThing member Erin.Patel
Love these books by Jennifer Worth. This one was one of the best as it wraps up her time at Nonnatus house (a convent which provides widwifery services to the poorest of the poor in the east end London). Such horrifying and beautifully written stories. Makes me feel very lucky to be living in a
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time when I can give life to my beautiful girls without worrying how I will feed them or if they will fit into our bomb site one bedroom apartment.
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LibraryThing member Erin.Patel
Love these books by Jennifer Worth. This one was one of the best as it wraps up her time at Nonnatus house (a convent which provides widwifery services to the poorest of the poor in the east end London). Such horrifying and beautifully written stories. Makes me feel very lucky to be living in a
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time when I can give life to my beautiful girls without worrying how I will feed them or if they will fit into our bomb site one bedroom apartment.
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LibraryThing member cbl_tn
Jennifer Worth concludes her memoir trilogy with Farewell to the East End. She seems to have exhausted most of her own extraordinary childbirth experiences in her first book. The second book focuses more on home health care rather than midwifery. This one gets back to midwifery, but recounts
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experiences of Worth's fellow midwives, Cynthia, Trixie, and Chummy. I liked this one better than the second book, but not as well as book one. This is mostly a second-hand account of things that happened in the 1950s and it's difficult to tell how much accuracy has been lost in the retelling. Worth refers to events that she related in her first two books so it would be better to read those books first.
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LibraryThing member nurse73
These three books are based on the journal of a young midwife working in London's poor lower east end post WW II. The stories evoke so many mixed emotions. Very good glimpse at the post war era in London.
LibraryThing member Jodeneg
so interesting to listen to life back then and the way people lived in different parts of the world. Very good diary of an interesting person's life.
LibraryThing member crazeedi73
One of the best series I have ever read
LibraryThing member jldhuse
I enjoyed the whole series
LibraryThing member debnance
This was a book club read and I must admit I didn’t go eagerly into reading it, as I’m not one who tends to read books that have been made into tv shows (I’m just weird that way). I only read one or two of the stories, however, and I was hooked. Yes, some of it reads like filler, but it is
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book three. I’m definitely putting books one and two on hold at the library and I may (Gulp! Hate to admit this!) take a look at the tv shows, too.
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LibraryThing member kimreadthis
Again, I thoroughly enjoyed this memoir and the tales from London's East End.
LibraryThing member wrightja2000
Too disturbing for me were the chapters detailing rape and abortion and infanticide. I was looking forward to more uplifting scenes of birth and pregnancy. I know there is a lot of horrible stuff that has happened to women but at least balance it out with the good. I felt this volume of stories was
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very depressing and graphic with gratuitous descriptions of violence against women and children.
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LibraryThing member AmyMacEvilly
Again very readable and not just a memoir, but a bit of sociology. It did run out of steam at the end. It was good to read about how the real counterparts of the characters on the TV show ran their course. I am angry at the show writers about what they did to Cynthia's true story. I'm very glad
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that Jennifer Worth is honest and caring about Cynthia having depression. I am angry that the show writers had to fabricate a sexual assault as an etiology for the TV character's mental health issues. Mental illness isn't like that, and they shouldn't have done that: It was an injustice to the true Cynthia and her treatment in Worth's memoir.
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Language

Original publication date

2009

Physical description

321 p.; 21 cm

ISBN

9780062270061
Page: 0.1371 seconds