Northern Nurse (Regional Interest)

I've read all of Elliott Merrick's books, and loved them all. But Northern Nurse is his best one, in my opinion. It's written in first person, as if his wife Kate were telling the story. And in fact she did tell him the story and he wrote the book.Kate was a young Australian nurse looking for adventure in the 1920s. She accepted an assignment working in a mission hospital in Labrador, Canada, and fell in love with the local people and harsh wilderness she found there. She also met and married her husband (the author) during her time in Labrador.Throughout the book, Kate relates in a no-nonsense voice the births, deaths, epidemics, injuries, burns and unusual medical cases she treated. She also tells affectionately of the people she served - trappers, wives, children, native Indians, fishermen, sailors, and various visitors. Some of the stories made me chuckle, and some of them made me hold my breath in suspense. She worked day and night to serve the community living around the hospital, which also served as general store and community center. The weather was dreadful most of the year, and they lived without running water, electricity, telephone, or indoor toilets. Kate reveled in the experience, often traveling hundreds of miles by dog-sled to treat sick people in out-lying homesteads. She loved the snow, ice, wind, and the dangerous ocean, and rarely complained about the primitive conditions or workload.The only complaint I have is that the book ends rather abruptly when she meets and marries Elliott (Bud) Merrick. I wanted more! She mentions another book that talks of their early married life - and that book is True North.I really enjoyed this book, and will always remember the story of a gutsy, capable nurse traveling halfway around the world to serve in an understaffed, underfunded hospital in the frozen land of Labrador.

Excellent book; what nursing is all about! Well written and interesting regardless of one's personal investment in healthcare! Would read again.

Great book; so interesting.

Really enjoyed this book. Bravery!

How can there not be any reviews on this great book? This memoir is about an amazingly adventurous and courageous nurse who is bored with the easy nursing jobs and volunteers to go to frozen Labrador to work in the 1920's. What a difficult life she leads, but boy, can she handle it. Every young person should read this so they can learn what tough and dedicated really is.I've lent this book to lots of people and all have thoroughly enjoyed it. My book is so tattered now that I'm going to buy a new one for my permanent library.

I'm related to Kate Austen, but I would buy this book regardless of my family connection. Wonderful true story of an adventurous Australian woman who struck out into the world in the 1920s and found love and a new life in North America.

A fascinating, highly readable companion piece to Merrick's "True North". Both offer a finely-drawn look at a community that has probably now disappeared - Labrador before the Goose Bay base and Churchill Falls hydroelectric project. Both books should be considered Canadian classics.

Great

Beautiful story about living with bare necessities which can necessitate creativity and bring about strong bonds of interdependence , admiration and love.