Pages: 314
Rating: PG-13 (a few of the stories are rather mature in nature)
Summary:
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.
My Thoughts: This was probably my least favorite of the three books, although I still found it very interesting. It was neat to hear what happened to each of the people the author worked with (Trixie, Chummy, Cynthia, and the nuns) and in case you care, almost none of them do what the show says they do, but we expect television to take some liberties with the storyline. This book was my least favorite because it seemed to be just made up of stories that didn't fit into the first two books, so it's kind of sporadic. But still interesting. This book includes the stories of Meg and Mave, twins who are married to the same man and who insist on following extremely old books about pregnancy and birth; the story of the woman who after finding out she is pregnant yet again with a child they can't afford gets a backstreet abortion and almost dies, the woman who naturally births triplets, The Master's Arms (old guy who is sick and has lost his entire family except one daughter, who comes to nurse him), and the story of the ship's woman who ends up pregnant (this one and the abortion story are particularly disturbing).
I have to say though, that in the end I highly recommend all three of these books. I wish there were more!
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