Sister Mary Cynthia: She Went And Became A Nun - Call The Midwife

In the S06E05 thread Libby96 asked:

Quote

What happened with the real Mary Cynthia?

Cynthia's story is in the last part of the 3rd book. This is long and spoilers for real life.

As we know from the show Cynthia joined the religious life, and was a working Novice since she was already a trained midwife. She'd had signs of clinical depression since puberty and continued having problems with that. She ended up leaving the order, became a hospital staff nurse, then came back to the convent to resume her vows, but left again.  All the while she was in and out of psychiatric hospitals, drug treatment, electric shock therapy.

When she was 39 she met a clergyman named Roger (a widower with a son), and they got married. According to the book he had mental issues worse than her own, and having to look after and organize him became "the focus of her existence and cured her". Apparently she was happy as a vicar's wife, and was also a health visitor (nurse?). Roger retired at age 65 and for several years the two of them "lived like a couple of hippy teenagers." On a very small budget (3 pounds/day!) they backpacked around Greece, Israel, Jordan & Turkey, studying the ruins (Roger was some sort of classical scholar too). Roger also joined the Church of England World Mission Association, which meant he could be called to act as locum for any church anywhere at any time. One time he actually got called to go to a church in Lima, Peru on 2 weeks notice for a likely 3-6 month stay. So off they went. Cynthia had a bout with cancer in 2000, but it was successfully treated and so she and Roger continued their roaming ways.

Roger got sick in 2004 and died about 18 months later. With him gone depression returned to Cynthia. She had a recurrence of cancer and died quietly in June 2006.

Jennifer Worth wrote: "Cynthia – quiet, sensitive, depressive – led a life of high romance and breathtaking adventure in her old age that few of us would have dared contemplate, still less had the courage to carry out."

ncG1vNJzZmien6fCrr%2BNqamipZWptq6x0WeaqKVfqbyxtcJoaGpqZGLAqr%2FTnqlmpZGnxm6v2KeroaGRYsCpsYywnKesXZa7pXnBnpqapZVirm661Kdm