Call the Nurse by Mary J. MacLeod

Subtitled True Stories of a Country Nurse on a Scottish Isle, this is a quick and enjoyable read. In 1970, Ms. MacLeod and her family decide to uproot from the frenetic pace of Southern England and move to a very remote Hebrides island. At this time, there was little work except for fishing and crofting. MacLeod was a nurse so she became the island nurse, traveling in all kinds of weather to help the elderly and infirm. The chapters are each a short story about someone or something that happened during their first year on the island. Some of the stories are fun and uplifting; others are so horrible that even Hollywood could not have thought them up. Although the people are poor, they don’t complain and pitch in to help anyone else in need.

This was a bit of a look at a time now past as tourism has taken over the Hebrides.

Recommended for fans of Jennifer Worth’s Call the Midwife, James Herriott’s All Creatures series or Patrick Taylor’s Irish Country Doctor series.