Shadows of the Workhouse

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midwifery in the raw - Rated
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! - Rated
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.