Listen free for 30 days
-
The Wartime Midwives
- Narrated by: Helen Lloyd
- Series: The Wartime Midwives, Book 1
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged Audiobook
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Genre Fiction
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Listen with a free trial
Buy Now for £21.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Home Fires and Spitfires
- By: Daisy Styles
- Narrated by: Helen Lloyd
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is June 1940, and as the bombs fall the women at home must dig deep. Tucked on the edge of the Lake District lies Mary Vale, a Mother and Baby Home open to unmarried women and their children. But tensions arise when three very different women walk through the doors.
-
-
Home Fires and Spitfires
- By Mouse2560 on 31-10-21
-
The District Nurses of Victory Walk
- The District Nurses, Book 1
- By: Annie Groves
- Narrated by: Alex Tregear
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alice Lake has arrived in London from Liverpool to start her training as a District Nurse, but her journey has been far from easy. Her parents think that she should settle down and get married, but she has already had her heart broken once and isn’t about to make the same mistake again. Alice and her best friend, Edith, are based in the East End, but before they’ve even got their smart new uniforms on, war breaks out, and Hitler’s bombs are raining down on London.
-
-
The district nurse of victory walk
- By Anne Dudley on 17-07-21
-
The Ops Room Girls
- The Women's Auxiliary Air Force, Book 1
- By: Vicki Beeby
- Narrated by: Eleanor Yates
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 1939, and working-class Evie Bishop has received a scholarship to study mathematics at Oxford when tragedy turns her life upside down. Evie must seek a new future for herself and, inspired to contribute to the war effort, joins the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force as an Ops Room plotter. Posted to a fighter station on the Sussex Coast, Evie befriends two other WAAFs. But the German bombers seem to know more than they should about the base’s operations, and soon Evie, May and Jess are caught up in a world more dangerous than they ever imagined.
-
-
Good read
- By The mad dog lady on 26-01-21
-
The Stolen Baby
- By: Diney Costeloe
- Narrated by: Georgia Maguire
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Plymouth, 1941. As sirens blare all around, the Shawbrook family take refuge in a packed shelter. Bombs have already begun to fall through the night sky when they realise their infant son, Freddie, has been forgotten in the rush, left to sleep in his crib. Terrified, Vera, his young mother, races to find him and bring him to safety. The next morning, air raid warden David Shawbrook returns from his watch to find the shelter pulverised, and his family seemingly all dead. Dirty footprints inside their home betray the looters who have rifled through the house.
-
-
Great book!
- By Linda jauncey on 05-10-21
-
The Bomb Girl Brides
- By: Daisy Styles
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The life of a Bomb Girl isn't usually glamourous. But Maggie is getting married, so she is going to make sure her wedding day is - even if she does have to spend every other day slaving on the factory floor. This blasted factory was not what Julia had in mind either. She had always dreamed of attending Oxford University rather than getting her hands dirty, and the easy laughter of the other women intimidates her terribly. But they are all here together in this munitions factory in a Lancashire mill town, sharing firsts, pitching in and getting on. These Bomb Girls are going to do their best at work and in love.
-
-
Fantastic book
- By Jane Bryder on 10-08-18
-
The Code Girls
- By: Daisy Styles
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's 1941 and Britain is at war. For the aristocratic Walsingham family this means their grand home being taken over by the armed forces. But for newcomers Ava, Maudie and Bella, this is a chance for something more. Each is ready to do their part for the war effort and soon become firm friends. But Lord Edward Walsingham seems like he is hiding something. And although he may be clever, he might have met his match in Maudie and the girls....
-
-
The CODE girls?
- By MaisiMai on 02-05-18
-
Home Fires and Spitfires
- By: Daisy Styles
- Narrated by: Helen Lloyd
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is June 1940, and as the bombs fall the women at home must dig deep. Tucked on the edge of the Lake District lies Mary Vale, a Mother and Baby Home open to unmarried women and their children. But tensions arise when three very different women walk through the doors.
-
-
Home Fires and Spitfires
- By Mouse2560 on 31-10-21
-
The District Nurses of Victory Walk
- The District Nurses, Book 1
- By: Annie Groves
- Narrated by: Alex Tregear
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Alice Lake has arrived in London from Liverpool to start her training as a District Nurse, but her journey has been far from easy. Her parents think that she should settle down and get married, but she has already had her heart broken once and isn’t about to make the same mistake again. Alice and her best friend, Edith, are based in the East End, but before they’ve even got their smart new uniforms on, war breaks out, and Hitler’s bombs are raining down on London.
-
-
The district nurse of victory walk
- By Anne Dudley on 17-07-21
-
The Ops Room Girls
- The Women's Auxiliary Air Force, Book 1
- By: Vicki Beeby
- Narrated by: Eleanor Yates
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is 1939, and working-class Evie Bishop has received a scholarship to study mathematics at Oxford when tragedy turns her life upside down. Evie must seek a new future for herself and, inspired to contribute to the war effort, joins the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force as an Ops Room plotter. Posted to a fighter station on the Sussex Coast, Evie befriends two other WAAFs. But the German bombers seem to know more than they should about the base’s operations, and soon Evie, May and Jess are caught up in a world more dangerous than they ever imagined.
-
-
Good read
- By The mad dog lady on 26-01-21
-
The Stolen Baby
- By: Diney Costeloe
- Narrated by: Georgia Maguire
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Plymouth, 1941. As sirens blare all around, the Shawbrook family take refuge in a packed shelter. Bombs have already begun to fall through the night sky when they realise their infant son, Freddie, has been forgotten in the rush, left to sleep in his crib. Terrified, Vera, his young mother, races to find him and bring him to safety. The next morning, air raid warden David Shawbrook returns from his watch to find the shelter pulverised, and his family seemingly all dead. Dirty footprints inside their home betray the looters who have rifled through the house.
-
-
Great book!
- By Linda jauncey on 05-10-21
-
The Bomb Girl Brides
- By: Daisy Styles
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 10 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The life of a Bomb Girl isn't usually glamourous. But Maggie is getting married, so she is going to make sure her wedding day is - even if she does have to spend every other day slaving on the factory floor. This blasted factory was not what Julia had in mind either. She had always dreamed of attending Oxford University rather than getting her hands dirty, and the easy laughter of the other women intimidates her terribly. But they are all here together in this munitions factory in a Lancashire mill town, sharing firsts, pitching in and getting on. These Bomb Girls are going to do their best at work and in love.
-
-
Fantastic book
- By Jane Bryder on 10-08-18
-
The Code Girls
- By: Daisy Styles
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 13 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's 1941 and Britain is at war. For the aristocratic Walsingham family this means their grand home being taken over by the armed forces. But for newcomers Ava, Maudie and Bella, this is a chance for something more. Each is ready to do their part for the war effort and soon become firm friends. But Lord Edward Walsingham seems like he is hiding something. And although he may be clever, he might have met his match in Maudie and the girls....
-
-
The CODE girls?
- By MaisiMai on 02-05-18
-
Girls on the Home Front
- Factory Girls, Book 1
- By: Annie Clarke
- Narrated by: Patricia Gallimore
- Length: 15 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
August 1941: As war sweeps across Britain and millions of men enlist, women must fight the battle on the home front. Fran always thought she would marry her childhood sweetheart and live in Massingham, the beloved pit village she has always called home. But the opening of a munitions factory in the north-east of England presents a new opportunity. Against her father's wishes and with best friends Sarah and Beth by her side, Fran signs up to join the ranks of women at the factory. It's dangerous work, but the friends discover that their lives are only just beginning.
-
-
Worst ww2 fiction book I think was ever written
- By Immy on 09-05-21
-
The Shipyard Girls
- Shipyard Girls, Book 1
- By: Nancy Revell
- Narrated by: Janine Birkett
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sunderland, 1940, and the women go to the shipyards to do their bit for the war effort. Polly never dreamed she would be able to work in the shipyards like the men in her family but times are tough and her new job ends up giving her more than she ever expected when she meets enigmatic dock diver Tommy Watts. During the day, head welder Rosie teaches her fledgling flock of trainees their new trade, but at night she hides a secret life. And mother hen Gloria signs up to escape her brutal husband, but finds she cannot run....
-
-
not written well
- By Julie Ann Jones on 11-06-17
-
War Clouds over Blackberry Farm
- By: Rosie Clarke
- Narrated by: Claire Morgan
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cambridgeshire - March 1939. As the clouds of war begin to gather in Europe, the Talbot family of rural Blackberry Farm will be torn apart, just as so many families all over the world will be. Life will never be the same again. Whilst in London, the Salmons family will feel the pain of parting and loss. Brought together by war, the two families become intertwined and, as the outlook looks bleak, they must draw on each other’s strength to fight through the hard times.
-
-
could not listen to this audio book.
- By Amazon Customer on 29-04-22
-
The Girls of Victory Street: An Absolutely Heartbreaking World War 2 Family Saga
- The Bryant Sisters, Book 1
- By: Pam Howes
- Narrated by: Susie Riddell
- Length: 6 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Liverpool, 1939. Bella Rogers thought her life was just starting; she can’t wait to get married to her childhood sweetheart, Bobby. But when war is declared and Bobby is called up, his letters stop, leaving Bella heartbroken and alone. Then her family is torn apart by tragedy when her angelic 5-year-old sister dies from a terrible illness. They can barely afford a funeral, but the church is packed with the entire community, devastated for their loss. Grieving for her sister and lost love, Bella finds a job at the Bryant and May factory, making matches.
-
-
A great listen
- By Chris Searston on 22-02-21
-
Wicked Girl
- Two Desperate Children. One Is a Mother. The Other Her Child.
- By: Jeanie Doyle
- Narrated by: Aoife McMahon
- Length: 6 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first in a brand-new series by the foster 'super-gran', Wicked Girl is the shocking true story of the very first case Jeanie Doyle dealt with: a baby girl who was found abandoned on the steps of a church just before Christmas. While the 14-year-old mother was tracked down, Jeanie took her little daughter into her own care. But while she tried to help the two of them heal and bond, the terrible truth about the baby's father was revealed.
-
Heaven and Hell for the Tobacco Girls
- By: Lizzie Lane
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bridget Milligan has donned a uniform and joined the nursing services where she becomes intrigued with the miracles of modern medicine. She’s also torn between family loyalty, her new career and Lyndon O’Neill, the love of her life. Is it too impossible to hope that everything will come out right in the end? Phyllis Harvey is still serving in Malta where she sees the casualties of war first hand. Finally it seems like Phyllis is blessed with true in love, but fate can sometimes be a rocky road and nothing is that certain.
-
-
Not as good as rest of series
- By m wakefield on 11-03-22
-
The Girls of Mulberry Lane
- Mulberry Lane, Book 1
- By: Rosie Clarke
- Narrated by: Susie Riddell
- Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Maureen Jackson is a prisoner of her father's blackmail. Three years ago, she'd been hoping to marry Rory, the man of her dreams. However, after her mother's death, Maureen was left to care for her overbearing father. Now Rory is back in London with his pregnant wife and reminds Maureen of the life that should have been hers. With the war looming, Janet Ashley hopes to marry her sweetheart Mike, but her father refuses to grant them his blessing. Janet finds herself pregnant and her mother Peggy is determined to hold her family together.
-
-
Not a narrative structure as you know it
- By Bookworm on 11-06-21
-
A Mother's Journey
- By: Donna Douglas
- Narrated by: Anne Dover
- Length: 10 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hull, 1940. Widowed Edie Copeland has just arrived on Exchange Street, heavily pregnant and with heavy suitcase in tow. She left York after tragedy struck to make a fresh start, but she's a stranger to this street, and her new landlord doesn't hesitate to remind her of this, widow or not. Luckily, the neighbours are a little more welcoming and Edie is soon made to feel at home by the Maguires and the Scuttles. As air raids sound and the war feels closer than ever, the community has to stick together. But Edie is hiding something, and she doesn't know how much longer her secret is safe.
-
-
The best!
- By Marvellous on 09-05-22
-
Wartime Sweethearts
- Sweet Sisters #1
- By: Lizzie Lane
- Narrated by: Annie Aldington
- Length: 10 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Sweet family have run the local bakery for as long as anyone can remember. Twins Ruby and Mary Sweet help their widowed father out when they can. Mary loves baking and has no intention of leaving their small Gloucestershire village while Ruby dreams of life in London. But as war threatens, there will be changes for all of the Sweet family, with brother Charlie off to serve and cousin Frances facing evacuation. But there will be opportunities, too, as the twins' baking talent catches the attention of the Ministry of Food.
-
-
Amazing Book and performance
- By Jane Bryder on 18-10-20
-
The Factory Girls of Lark Lane
- Lark Lane, Book 1
- By: Pam Howes
- Narrated by: Georgia Maguire
- Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1940, Liverpool: Alice Turner and her best friend, Millie Markham, work for the war effort at Rootes munitions factory, making shell caps and Halifax bombers. Alice’s sweetheart, Terry, is home from the front for a brief period of leave. But the honeymoon is soon over. Terry must go back to the dangers of Nazi-occupied France, and the ever-present air raid sirens quickly bring Alice back down to earth.
-
-
Loved this book
- By Kindle Customer on 03-06-20
-
The Railway Girls
- By: Maisie Thomas
- Narrated by: Julia Franklin
- Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In February, 1922, at the western-most entrance to Victoria Station in Manchester, a massive plaque was unveiled. Beneath a vast tiled map showing the lines of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway network, a series of seven bronze panels recorded the names of the men of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway who gave their lives for King and Country in the Great War - a total of 1,460 names. In March, 1940, a group of women of varying ages and backgrounds stands in front of the memorial, ready to do its bit in this new World War....
-
-
Enjoyed this book
- By Sandra Chapman on 25-04-21
-
The Nightingale Girls
- By: Donna Douglas
- Narrated by: Penelope Freeman
- Length: 15 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Three very different girls sign up as trainee nurses at a big London teaching hospital in 1934. Dora leaves her overcrowded, squalid working-class home for a better life. But has she got what it takes to keep up with other, better-educated girls? And will her hated stepfather ever let her go? Helen is born for the job; her brother is a doctor, her all-powerful mother a hospital trustee. But will Helen’s secret misery be her downfall? An aristocratic rebel, Millie’s carefree attitude will find her up in front of Matron again and again. Will she ever care enough to make a nurse? Or will she go back to the glamorous life she was born to?
-
-
What a surprise!
- By Enquiring Mind on 03-04-15
Summary
Penguin presents the audiobook edition of The Wartime Midwives by Daisy Styles.
1939. Mary Vale, a grand and imposing Mother and Baby Home, sits on the remote Fylde coast in Lancashire. Its doors are open to unmarried women who come to hide their condition and find sanctuary.
Women from all walks of life pass through Mary Vale, from beautiful waitress Emily, whose boyfriend has vanished without trace, to young Isla, cast out by her wealthy family after her first year at university goes horribly wrong.
Awaiting them is Nurse Ada and Sister Anne who work tirelessly to aid the mothers and safely deliver the babies. But the unforgiving Matron and Head of Governors, Captain Percival, have other, more sinister ideas.
As war looms the women at Mary Vale must pull together for the sake of themselves and their babies, and Ada and Anne must help protect their patients, no matter what the cost.
Critic reviews
"This book brought home wonderfully the vivid camaraderie wartime women shared and their immense sacrifices on the Home Front. Well done Daisy for creating characters that are real women in the best sense. Funny, scheming, loyal and witty, but about all, hardworking and proud. An absolute joy to read." (Kate Thompson, best-selling author of Secrets of the Singer Girls)
"Feisty young women, a country house in wartime and a scheming aristocrat - all ingredients for a cracking story with truly endearing characters." (Annie Murray, best-selling author of Now the War Is Over)
More from the same
What listeners say about The Wartime Midwives
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Petra 🤗📚📓🖋📮
- 16-07-19
brilliant both in storyline and narration
The Wartime Midwives written by the very talented Daisy Styles for me was a marvellous, emotional read which had me gripped from the first word was narrated by Helen Lloyd.
I loved the Audible version as not only was I blessed with a fantastic storyline the narrator has a gift of narrating each character, giving each one of them their own voice and mannerisms.
The book is based on a group of girls who soon are to become good friends in the most unlikely of places a Mother and Baby Home which is based in the North of England near to Windermere. The home is run by a local community of nuns were the Sisters showed their kindness to the girls unlike a lot of books I have read in the past which was based in and around a mother and baby home. The girls are Gloria, Emily, Shirley and Nancy. There is also Ada who is a Nursing Sister on the wards and her love for her job is clear through the way she lovingly cared for her charges.
I loved how the main storyline continued as it not only showed what life was like for single mothers back in the 1940s, but it also showed the innocence of young girls back then, so different from today’s world. There was a work of evil throughout the storyline which certainly kept me on the edge of my seat and I am so thankful for the audible version as I was able to carry on with my daily tasks but still keep myself engaged in the life of the girls and other inhabitants of Maryvale.
It is a wonderful work of historical fiction which I am extremely happy to recommend. In my honest opinion, five stars are not enough as this book deserves a full ten stars as it is one book which once started it is impossible to set down.
Happy to recommend.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jackie Jackson
- 24-04-20
fab book
great book, very well read with some cliff hangers. A great and listen. Thank you
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 01-02-21
a fantastic listen
I loved listening to this book. The highs & lows . Also Anne Dover is fabulous narrating
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 08-11-19
It’s ok but just okay
Usually I love books about this era and while this one is easy to listen to it never had me gripped or excited to listen to it.
The story and the characters were quite predictable
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mrs Irene Bladon
- 19-04-22
Irene Derbyshire
Lovely story around the lives of the wartime midwives and the problems and friendships gained by tough times they had to live in.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- S. M. Sinclair
- 17-03-22
Great Story
Good Story, and well narrated. couldn't put it down! I love period drama, and this one didn't disappoint.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- EmmaRay
- 17-03-22
Great
Really good story read beautifully. Loved the characters and was kept interested to see how it all ended. A Great listen
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mrs Cashmore
- 08-11-21
Wonderful story
This book was very well read and kept me entertained for a long time waiting to see how it would end.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Mouse2560
- 15-07-21
Wartime Midwives
Great story with some lovely characters.
Found the narrators voice a bit slow but just turned the speed otherwise I thoroughly enjoyed the story.
I m glad to to see there is a second book too
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Claire
- 21-08-20
Great book, really enjoyed it.
Loved this book, narrator is excellent. The characters and story are well constructed, and the wartime era background is such a good setting. Glad to see there is a follow up too.