Tired of the pace and noise of life near London and longing for a better place to raise their young children, Mary J. MacLeod and her husband encountered their dream while vacationing on a remote island in the Scottish Hebrides. Enthralled by its windswept beauty, they soon were the proud owners of a near-derelict croft house—a farmer’s stone cottage—on “a small acre” of land. Mary assumed duties … duties as the island’s district nurse. Call the Nurse is her account of the enchanted years she and her family spent there, coming to know its folk as both patients and friends.
In anecdotes that are by turns funny, sad, moving, and tragic, she recalls them all, the crofters and their laird, the boatmen and tradesmen, young lovers and forbidding churchmen. Against the old-fashioned island culture and the grandeur of mountain and sea unfold indelible stories: a young woman carried through snow for airlift to the hospital; a rescue by boat; the marriage of a gentle giant and the island beauty; a ghostly encounter; the shocking discovery of a woman in chains; the flames of a heather fire at night; an unexploded bomb from World War II; and the joyful, tipsy celebration of a ceilidh. Gaelic fortitude meets a nurse’s compassion in these wonderful true stories from rural Scotland.
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The “Call of the Nurse” was based on real life experiences in the Hebrides. Similar to the James Harriott books, many wonderful characters are chronicled in this book. An engaging read.
The author introduced me to a new world, of both beauty and harshness. Her portrayals of character and place are vivid. It’s hard to imagine choosing to live in such isolation, but she led me to share the wonder of it, and the joy of her work serving her community.
A light read, I truly enjoyed the easy ‘goodness’ of the people and life described in this book. It was a relief from our current social tensions and a hopeful tribute to what life can be.
Love, love, love! I fell for all the characters and their struggle living in a sometimes harsh environment! Absolutely a great female lead who is tireless in her job of nurse and friend!
If you like anything scottish
Wonderful stories of people living in sometimes very difficult conditions. It was a nice break from my usual reading style.
As a nurse practicing since the 1970s, but only in a suburban setting, I really feel for the challenges our nurse came up against. I romanticize about how I might have handled the same situation. I would have loved to live on island with them.
It was very well written. I enjoyed reading I.
Here’s my pithy description: Think CALL THE MIDWIFE, but rather than urban London, CALL THE NURSE takes place on the remote islands of the Hebrides, off Scotland’s west coast.
After a lovely vacation in the Scottish Hebrides, Mary MacLeod, her husband George, and two sons give up the busy pace of London life to move to the islands — eager for a …
Originally difficult to read due to local language references. A glossary of terms would make it easier. But content was interesting and a window into another culture.
Interesting and charming.
If you like Call the Midwife you will love this book
A great read by a nurse on a remote Hebrides Island
Great tales of the 70’s on a Scottish island. Wonderful look into people and thei lives.
I loved the author’s writing of her life on this fairly remote island as a nurse who moved there with her husband & her two young sons. She made you feel as though you were getting to know the island’s residents and their many lovely quirks.
And she managed to make her story move right along so I wanted to know more about these folks.
I have never thought about this part of the world, and I appreciated getting a first-hand glimpse into it. The stories are all from true life, and the author presents them in a straight-forward but compassionate way. I enjoyed hearing more, and actually was (am still) very curious to know where she went next in her life, and why she was no …
It gave a good picture of what life was like on the Scottish isles: weather, people, beliefs, and medical care. I enjoyed this book.
Too many exclamation points, made it annoying to read. I stopped 1/3 of the way through.
I loved this! My career as a nurse spanned 44 years, and several specialties. She brought nursing, the people and the islands alive.
I do wish she wrote why they left.
Still waiting to be engaged in it. Hasn’t happened yet