Call the Midwife: The book is just as good as the series!

The miniseries' of Call the Midwife (both seasons) are great and the book Call the Midwife, A Memoir of Birth, Joy and Hard Times is just as brilliant. If you loved the BBC miniseries which just finished airing on PBS in North America, getting the book is a no brainer. And this is one you may want to pass on to a friend, so I was glad my family bought me the paperback for Mother's Day as I have already passed it on to my sister.

You will recognize all of the main characters. Trixie is given short shrift in this book but the story of Chummy conquering the bicycle with the help of her little friend is there and the story of Jenny's affair with a married man and her friendship with Jimmy is there. Miranda Hart makes the role of Chummy even better than it's written! Cynthia apparently had a really sexy, low voice in real life, so perhaps that casting didn't quite come through but I love Bryony Hannah in the role as she is just so adorable!

The casting of all of the nuns as well as Jenny Lee is perfection. As you read the book, it just fleshes out the already beloved characters from the series. Sister Evangelina, Sister Monica Joan and Sister Julienne are well represented in this book. Perhaps we will read more of cutie Sister Bernadette in some of the other books by Jennifer Worth which I have yet to read. Apparently there are four of them. Yay!!!

So if you are looking for some reading material while you wait for the third season (and we are talking next spring for that here in the colonies) you can't go wrong. And you will love the story of the Spanish mother with 28 children (OK, I can't remember the real number and my sis now has the book).

Cheers and happy reading!

Call The Midwife- PBS this Sunday Sept 30!

Call The Midwife

If you are patiently awaiting the return of Downton Abbey, you have a real treat in store. Call The Midwife is a BBC miniseries based on the best selling memoirs of Jennifer Worth. I can't talk this one up enough! I love it!!! The stories of young midwives delivering babies in the East End of London in the 1950s is moving and funny and will have you coming back for all 5 episodes. Sunday night on PBS is going to be wonderful this fall!

Jessica Raine plays Jenny Lee, a young woman from the wealthy countryside of England who has trained as a nurse and midwife and is posted to the rough East End of London. The series follows her and her fellow midwives as they work in one of the poorest parts of London, still reeling from the bombings of WWII.

Judy Parfitt, Pam Ferris, Jenny Agutter and Laura Main as the nuns

Instead of the hospital Jenny Lee is expecting, she finds herself posted to a convent (Nonnatus House) with some fairly unconventional nuns. Judy Parfitt (Mrs. Clennam from Little Dorrit) and Jenny Agutter (Idina Hatton from The Buccaneers) are particularly wonderful as the nuns overseeing and teaching the young midwives. Judy Parfitt plays the adorable Sister Monica Joan who has a bit of dementia and is only occasionally lucid. Hilarious and touching at the same time. Jenny Agutter is Sister Julienne, the real heart of the operation and someone for the young midwives to look up to.

Helen George, Miranda Hart, Jessica Raine and Bryony Hannah

Long before her memoirs were filmed, author of the book Jennifer Worth asked Miranda Hart to play Chummy Browne, the six foot tall ungainly, clumsy midwife featured in the stories. If you haven't seen comedienne Miranda Hart before, you will love her and you will start to look for her in other things. She doesn't appear until episode 2 so stay tuned.

If I have any readers in the UK, Australia, New Zealand or Europe who have already seen this, please comment below and tell us what you thought of it. Personally, I cannot wait!

P.S. As PBS says, check local listings. Some of the stations are starting this Sunday Sept 30 at 8pm but my local station in Buffalo has it listed as starting the week after (Sunday Oct. 7 at 8 pm)