Here we have the full-on nurse novel - General Duty Nurse.
I was surprisingly entertained by Lucy Agnes Hancock's Student Nurse so I thought I'd try another of her titles.
Sally Maynard is the most competent nurse and a general favourite in the hospital. She's so well liked that some jealous girls rudely call her an "apple polisher!" She seems to work all hours, so there is little time for personal history, as she concentrates on her assigned patients one at a time and gets involved in their lives. One has a fiancé heading overseas and Sally arranges a marriage, another is a young man with spinal injuries, another is an old man who sends his flowers to the lady across the hall and they fall in love. This kind of thing on and on through the day and night shifts.
So dull is her love life that in order not to appear too chaste she falsifies a romantic story of an old lover, tragically missing in the Pacific. When a celebrated war hero plans to visit the town - with coincidentally the same name - she panics!
The big drama for Sally is Doctor Hallock, who always hangs around mooning over her. She's too busy to be interested, but nurse Norma is so jealous she leaks a rumour they are dating, which is against the rules and could get them both fired.
It's 1945 and there is a shortage of men, doctors and nurses. New to the hospital is the first female doctor, Carolyn Bacon, who deals with the other doctors as an equal. The nurses are all portrayed as knowledgeable as the doctors, who ask for their advice and consent to their judgement.
Competently written and fairly engaging, this was pretty good entertainment. If you are into nurse novels, I think you'll be impressed. Not something I would seek out, but I rarely regret a book I've read, especially if it's a Triangle Books hardcover with a fine dust jacket.
It was fun to be in the 40's, even if they ration the cream for the coffee.
1945 / Hardcover / 253 pages
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