A COUNTRY PRACTICE
By Judith Colquhoun
BLURB:
A heart-warming, poignant and engaging tale about the doctors, nurses and patients of the Wandin Valley Bush Nursing Hospital, and their friends and neighbours.
A Country Practice follows the dramas, loves, secrets and dilemmas of the people in an Australian small country town. There is romance, humour and tragedy for the medical staff of the local hospital, and the rural community it serves.
A desperate woman arrives at the Wandin Valley Bush Nursing Hospital in the final stages of labour. Can Dr Terence Elliott overcome his demons to save both mother and baby?
Simon Bowen, the newest doctor in town, is frustrated at being seen as an outsider by the tight knit country people. Will he succeed in winning them around ‒ especially young vet Vicky Dean?
Vicky’s mum, Sister Shirley Dean, is courted by widowed police sergeant Frank Gilroy. But is he the man for her?
Young married couple, Brendan and Molly Jones arrive in Wandin Valley. Are they prepared for the realities of country life?
Meanwhile, a teenager in love clashes with her father and a serious car accident reveals a surprising secret about two of the town’s residents.
Based on the award-winning, international hit television serial A Country Practice, this new series of novels follows the lives and loves of the rural community of Wandin Valley, South-Eastern Australia. Set in the early 1980s it is a nostalgic look at country life, yet with all the same joys and problems we face today.
REVIEW
I highly recommend this book. Maybe this is the first time I am doing this, recommending the book in the very first line, because I want you people, all my readers to definitely read this beautiful novel.
This novel tells the story of you, me, us, the ordinary people. You maybe a teenager, a single mother, a single father or a young couple trying to adjust in a new place, you maybe anyone, but I guarantee you, that you will be able to relate to this story, find a piece of your mind, your soul in one of the parts of this awesome novel.
This is Jenny’s story, a 15 year old girl and her father’s, a single dad trying to meet both ends. This is also Terence’s story, a senior doctor, a country GP, he is an expert, a real good person at heart. This is Simon’s story, a young doctor under the shadow of Terence, who is trying to create a influence in this Countryside and not quite managing. Then there is Brendan and Molly’s story, two people trying to adjust in Wandin Valley. Also this is Shirley’s story, a country nurse, Marta’s story, the matron and many others.
From the very first page I was able to relate to all the characters. This story is told through many point of views, the narrator jumps from one person’s head to another and you get a piece of everyone’s mind, what they think, what they feel. Pain, anger, joy, many human emotions are shown through all these characters.
‘‘People are sometimes driven to choices which others find incomprehensible. We have to accept that.”
There were so many beautiful moments in this novel, that I was literally sad when this book ended because I just wanted more, I wanted to live their life a little bit longer.
In mere 220 pages, the author weaved so many different lives and there beautiful stories together. Seriously praiseworthy.
Overall I would say, A Country Practice is a beautifully written novel with well built characters, that I am asking you to buy just now to loose yourself into this heartwarming tale.
LIFE AT 17 RATING:
🎐🎐🎐🎐🎐
(5 stars)
LINKS:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25764168-a-country-practice?ac=1&from_search=true
Purchase:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Country-Practice-New-Beginnings-ebook/dp/B00Z37ROM2/
https://www.amazon.com/Country-Practice-New-Beginnings-ebook/dp/B00Z37ROM2/
https://www.amazon.com.au/Country-Practice-New-Beginnings-ebook/dp/B00Z37ROM2/
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Judith Colquhoun was born in Queensland and grew up in Sydney. She studied production at the National Institute of Dramatic Art and soon after graduating, love and a job took her to Melbourne. Later, she lived in London for a time, spent many years in country Victoria and long enough in Italy to fall in love with the Mezzogiorno. She is now back in Melbourne and may even stay there.
She started writing when she was six and from the age of twenty-three has always earned her living from it in one way or another. She was a scriptwriter for far too long, writing countless hours of television for many of Australia’s most popular shows, including Neighbours and Home & Away. Her output included one hundred episodes of A Country Practice.
Judith has worked as an editor and script producer, and in Italy was a script consultant on the serial Un Posto Al Sole. She has won five Awgie Awards and in 2007 was made a Life Member of the Australian Writers’ Guild.
In 2009 she finally gave up scriptwriting to attempt a novel. Thicker Than Water, which is largely set in southern Italy, was published in 2014. It was Highly Commended in the Fellowship of Australian Writers 2014 National Literary Awards.
She has written three novels based on the stories and characters of A Country Practice – New Beginnings, To Everything a Season and Silver Linings.
Judith is married with two children and three grandchildren.
Life at 17 