Jennifer Worth was a renowned English author and nurse, born as Jennifer Lee in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex in September 1935. Raised in Buckinghamshire, Worth trained as a nurse and later became a certified midwife after working as a secretary at Dr. Challoner's Grammar School in Amersham, Buckinghamshire. She began her midwifery career in London, working as a staff nurse in Whitechapel and as a ward sister in Bloomsbury and Hampstead.
Apart from being a nurse and a midwife, Worth was also a talented musician who at one time served as a piano teacher. After retiring from nursing in 1973, she focused on her musical interests and obtained a licentiate of the London College of Music in 1974. She later went on to teach piano and singing and received a fellowship in 1984. Worth was also an accomplished soloist and performed with choirs throughout Britain and Europe.
Worth's writing career began in 2002 with the publication of her first volume of memoirs, 'Call the Midwife', which became a bestseller when it was reissued in 2007. The book detailed her experiences as a midwife in London, and its success led to the publication of two more bestsellers, 'Shadows of the Workhouse' (2005) and 'Farewell to the East End' (2009). The trilogy sold almost a million copies in the UK alone. In 2010, Worth published a fourth volume of memoirs, 'In the Midst of Life', reflecting on her later experiences caring for the terminally ill.
Worth was known for her critical views on social issues, particularly regarding the depiction of illegal abortions in Mike Leigh's 2004 film Vera Drake. She argued that the method shown in the movie was almost invariably fatal to the mother, and she was highly critical of its unrealistic portrayal. Worth passed away in May 2011 from esophageal cancer, but her legacy lives on through her writing and the popular television series, Call the Midwife, based on her books, which began broadcasting on BBC One on 15 January 2012.