Jarrow midwife’s memoirs are a best-seller
HIT MEMOIR ... Maria Anderson with her Sunday Times bestseller book and, below, earlier in her career as a midwife.
A MIDWIFE from South Tyneside has delivered a bestselling maternity memoir.
Jarrow-born Maria Anderson has sold about 24,000 copies of Tales Of A Midwife, which describes her 20 years in midwifery.
Bolstered by the popular TV drama Call The Midwife, Mrs Anderson’s book has been flying off the shelves at both home and abroad.
Based in the community and on a busy maternity ward, the book relates many of the dramas encountered while bringing more than 1,000 babies into the world.
Mrs Anderson, 44, admitted she was “absolutely shocked” after her book reached No4 in the general paperback section of The Sunday Times bestseller list.
She said: “I never imagined the book would be so popular, and I’m just thrilled about its success.
“People are coming up to me all the time and giving me cuttings from newspapers about the book.
“I hoped it would sell a few hundred copies – but not 24,000!”
Mrs Anderson, who trained in midwifery at Tyneside hospitals, never dreamed of becoming a published author until her story was commissioned by the Royal College of Midwives.
The book tells many of the offbeat and touching stories from Mrs Anderson’s life in midwifery.
The tales include fainting three times when she first saw a baby being delivered, and breaking her left hand while facing a life-and-death birth drama.
“The success of the book has been great, but it’s been just as fulfilling to see the interest it has created among student midwives I work with,” she added.
Married with two daughters, Mrs Anderson works as a senior charge midwife at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness, Scotland, while her parents, Sheila and Michael Joyce, live in Bede Burn Road, Jarrow.
Mrs Joyce said: “All the family are very proud of Maria for all the success she has had with the book.”
Maria Anderson will sign copies of her bestselling book at Asda, Boldon, at 1pm on Friday.
Tales Of A Midwife is published by Headline, at £6.99.
Twitter: @terrykelly16
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Wednesday 19 June 2013
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