In this extraordinary account of life as midwife in 1950s London, Jennifer Worth recounts her experiences - and those of the women she helped - in all their stark, colourful and at times shocking reality.

Life in London''s East End in the 1950s was tough. The brothels of Cable Street, the Kray brothers and gang warfare, the meths drinkers in the bomb sites - this was the world that Jennifer Worth entered when she became a midwife at the age of twenty-two. Babies were born in slum conditions, often with no running water.

In Call the Midwife, Worth describes the romance and beauty of London as well as the bug-infested tenements, the spectre of disease, the sense of community and the incredible resilience of women who often bore more than ten children. Funny and moving, it brings to life a world that has now changed beyond measure.

In this extraordinary account of life as midwife in 1950s London, Jennifer Worth recounts her experiences - and those of the women she helped - in all their stark, colourful and at times shocking reality.

Life in London''s East End in the 1950s was tough. The brothels of Cable Street, the Kray brothers and gang warfare, the meths drinkers in the bomb sites - this was the world that Jennifer Worth entered when she became a midwife at the age of twenty-two. Babies were born in slum conditions, often with no running water.

In Call the Midwife, Worth describes the romance and beauty of London as well as the bug-infested tenements, the spectre of disease, the sense of community and the incredible resilience of women who often bore more than ten children. Funny and moving, it brings to life a world that has now changed beyond measure.