The Country Nurse Remembers: True Stories of a Troubled Childhood, War, and Becoming a Nurse (The Country Nurse Series, Book Three) (3)

This is a story of a confused, chaotic and repressive childhood lived in the West Country before, during and after WWII. As WWII began and rumbled along in the background of her young life, MacLeod offers a children's perspective of life in wartime Britain. Evacuees came (and went). Her father built an air-raid shelter. A plane crashed into her village. The local school children collected scrap metal for the war effort. Following the death of her mother at a young age, a tenuous relationship with her father and stepmother, and financial difficulties that prevented her achieving her dream of becoming a GP, MacLeod settled for second best. From childhood to nursing education, and ultimately State Registration, this is the tale of how The Island Nurse became an adult and began her long and fruitful career. From the Bestselling Author of Call the Nurse and Nurse, Come You Here! , the Moving Story of Her Young Life and Her Path to Independence through Training to Be a Nurse—"A Must-Read Suggestion for Fans of the BBC's Call the Midwife " ( Booklist) Mary MacLeod's mother died in childbirth when Mary was five, an event that marked for the child a "before time"—a lost joyful time—and after. She was shunted from one relative to another while her father coped with his grief. He married again only nine months later, perhaps to have a mother for his child, but her new mum, harsh and withholding of her love, quickly exerted complete control over her thoughts and deeds, with her father oblivious. Her name was changed to her stepmother's choice of "Julia." Yet the pale, thin, quiet little girl didn't know she was unhappy: things were just the way they were. Narrating from the perspective of the child she was but with the understanding and empathy of the nurse and mother she became, the author of Call the Nurse recounts the moving, intimate, indelible story of her young life, growing up in rural England near Bath, relishing the good times when her stepmother was friendly or she helped her father in the garden, experiencing the world war—air raids and blackouts, the war effort, evacuees, German prisoners—winning a scholarship, leaving home to train for three years as a nurse, and gradually finding her way as an independent woman. "From the Bestselling Author of Call the Nurse and Nurse, Come You Here!, the Moving Story of Her Young Life and Her Path to Independence through Training to Be a Nurse. Mary MacLeod's mother died in childbirth when Mary was five, an event that marked for the child a "before time"-a lost joyful time-and after. She was shunted from one relative to another while her father coped with his grief. He married again only nine months later, perhaps to have a mother for his child, but her new mum, harsh and withholding of her love, quickly exerted complete control over her thoughts and deeds, with her father oblivious. Her name was changed to her stepmother's choice of "Julia." Yet the pale, thin, quiet little girl didn't know she was unhappy: things were just the way they were. Narrating from the perspective of the child she was but with the understanding and empathy of the nurse and mother she became, the author of Call the Nurse recounts the moving, intimate, indelible story of her young life, growing up in rural England near Bath, relishing the good times when her stepmother was friendly or she helped her father in the garden, experiencing the world war-air raids and blackouts, the war effort, evacuees, German prisoners-winning a scholarship, leaving home to train for three years as a nurse, and gradually finding her way as an independent woman"-- Provided by publisher