Frontline Midwife: My Story of Survival and Keeping Others Safe

Description

'Extraordinary, profoundly moving, all-consuming . . . I haven't stopped thinking about Frontline Midwife since I finished reading it' Oliver Burkeman, author of Four Thousand Weeks 'The heart-wrenching tale of one midwife's quest to help others - and make peace with herself' Leah Hazard, author of Hard Pushed 'Brutally powerful . . . Totally absorbing' Independent This is a story of women in crisis, seen through the eyes of a remarkable midwife 'My own suffering, my own loneliness, was a fair price to pay for the lives we'd saved. And now here I am, training to be a midwife, so that next time I can make it better.' Anna Kent has delivered babies in war zones, caring for the most vulnerable women in the most vulnerable places in the world. At twenty-six years old, not yet a fully-trained midwife, she delivered a baby in a tropical storm by the light of a headtorch; the following year, she would be responsible for the female health of 30,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. But returning to the UK to work for the NHS, she soon learned that even at home the right to a safe birth was impossible to take for granted. In Frontline Midwife, Kent shares her extraordinary experiences as a nurse, midwife and mother, illuminating the lives of women that are irreparably affected by compromised access to healthcare. This is at once an astonishing story of the realities of frontline humanitarian work, and a powerful reminder of the critical, life-giving work of nurses and doctors at home and around the world.

Anna Kent is a humanitarian aid worker, NHS nurse and midwife. After receiving a Nursing Master's Degree from the University of Nottingham, she completed a Diploma in Tropical Nursing in London and joined Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) in 2007. She gained her First Degree in Midwifery in 2010 and has worked as a midwife across the world, including in South Sudan, Haiti, Bangladesh and the UK.

Searingly honest . . . This brutally powerful memoir is full of incidents and suffering that will stay in your head . . . Although it's a stark read, Frontline Midwife is totally absorbing because Kent holds nothing back, including about her own tragic experiences of miscarriage and loss. The book offers a window into a world that few of us could honestly face' * Independent * Few can lay claim to a career as eventful as that of Anna Kent, a midwife who spent years delivering babies in war zones and refugee camps across the world. Her poignant memoir is a deeply thought-provoking red, at once devastating and brimming with hope * Woman's Own * Extraordinary . . . A sensationally powerful account of humanitarian aid work, the amazing people working in the field and attending patients, and the life-giving work of the medical profession both at home and overseas. A book that will stay with you * WI Life * An extraordinary, profoundly moving, all-consuming memoir that transports the reader deep into its world of heat, heartbreak, agonising moral dilemmas, and joy eked out against the backdrop of crisis. I haven't stopped thinking about Frontline Midwife since I finished reading it -- Oliver Burkeman, author of FOUR THOUSAND WEEKS The heart-wrenching tale of one midwife's quest to help others -and make peace with herself - in some of the world's most challenging environments -- Leah Hazard, author of HARD PUSHED In this stunning, gripping true story, Anna Kent confronts unimaginable hardships to do good in the world . . . I was riveted and fascinated by her bravery, her journey and her spirit -- Delia Ephron