I am delighted to be part of this virtual coffee morning.
Corazon Books are holding a virtual coffee morning. They have interviews and blog posts from some lovely guests, and at the end of each guest blog post you can donate directly to Macmillan Cancer Support.
Do get involved.
You can even read an interview with me
But that’s not all! All day on Friday,
Corazon Books will be donating to
Macmillan Cancer Support
all of our profits from sales of each of our medical fiction titles bought between midnight on the 25th September and midnight on 26th September!
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A Country Doctor by Jean McConnell
Young doctor Linda Ford swaps a busy London teaching hospital for a six month post at a small West Country General Practice. She soon discovers that countryside life is far from uneventful.
John Cooper, the senior doctor, warns Linda not to get emotionally involved in her cases. But Linda can’t help taking a personal interest in her patients, particularly when their problems seem to be more than medical. And as this is the late 1970s, Linda also faces some misgivings about a female doctor. Especially a young and pretty one.
Linda clashes over medical matters with Dr Peter Cooper, the older doctor’s son. But there is an undeniable attraction too. Where will it lead? And as Linda is keeping Peter’s place until he joins the practice as his father’s partner, what will her future hold?
This slice of rural life uncovers the dramas, family secrets and dilemmas which confront patients young and old. Their stories are in turn intriguing, poignant, and heart-warming.
The Country Doctor has recently reached number 2 in Amazon’s Medical Fiction chart!
Read a short extract from A Country Doctor....
My territory!
Linda Ford stopped her car on the hill, got out and leant over a gate staring across the field that sloped down into a maze of orchards and away in a pattern of lush green, yellow and dark red that typifies the western counties of England.
I’m a country doctor now, she thought. It wasn’t what she’d had in mind when she made the great decision at grammar school in London ‒ half expecting to be laughed to scorn; when she’d tentatively mentioned that she wanted to study medicine and been amazed to find that they thought she might try. At that time her ambition had soared.
Linda Ford the new Madame Curie! Shaking the world with a great breakthrough in medical knowledge!
Her parents had hardly subscribed to this dream. In fact it had taken some time to convince them that their wild young daughter was contemplating anything so at variance with the evidence of her bedroom ‒ that confusion of colourful pin-ups, scattered homework notes and non-stop pop. Their only daughter, who was so slapdash when she helped them in their little dairy on Saturdays ‒ yet knew the name of every customer.
They continued in a state of astonishment, although so consumed with pride in her endeavours, that Linda became shy of giving a hand in the dairy, knowing that all the regulars were being supplied with a blow-by-blow account of her examination struggles.
By the time she had passed her finals and taken her place amongst the junior doctors in a teaching hospital they accepted that she really was a budding medical genius....
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My thoughts on The Country Doctor
This is a light and easy read, something non-threatening, when you simply want a story that takes you back to an era when doctors had the time, and patience to look at people as individuals and not as targets on a spread sheet. The writing is gentle with some nice descriptive touches about rural life and the petty foibles and disputes which Linda encounters in her new role as rural GP are done with wit and warmth. But life in the country is not always sugar coated, and there are inevitable clashes when some of Linda’s more progressive ideas are met with cynicism, and the unhelpful comments from the senior colleagues adds another dimension to the story
If you are looking for a gritty, voyeuristic glimpse into the medical world then this is not the book for you, but if you like a gentle story about country life with quirky characters then this book may appeal. It’s something to curl up with on a cold winter’s afternoon, preferably with a cup of milky coffee close at hand.
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Cancer is the one of the toughest fights any of us can face and I know just how special is the work of this fantastic charity.
Do help if you can.
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