| Combine James Herriot, John McPhee, Seamus Heaney’s poem Digging with a dash of Call the Midwife. Mary J. Macleod moved her family from southern England to become a district nurse on an island twenty miles long in the Inner Hebrides. She, along with a 70-year-old doctor, provided medical care for all the inhabitants in the 1970’s. She writes with a clear-eyed, unsentimental, but affectionate voice.
The book is a series of vignettes: like a gurgling stream it ambles along, making it an satisfying read in pockets of time. Macleod worked (tending elderly, administering daily injections, attending to medical emergencies) with her patients in their homes. She was called at all hours and had to traverse a mountain or be taken by sea in a boat. She cared for people from newborns to octogenarians, many who spoke only Gaelic. This book taps into three fascinations: island culture, self-sustaining lifestyle, and Scotland. I have been on two islands in Scotland, which is knowledge enough to be dangerously ignorant. To protect the privacy of the inhabitants, Macleod calls her island Papavray. This fired my curiosity, sending me to Google to unsuccessfully tease out the island’s true name. The best thing? The author wrote her first book (of three now published) in her 80’s. It fuels my hope. Check out her Facebook page. |
Photo taken from Iona, a small — but important — island on the western coast of Scotland.
The second best thing? This book is $.99 on Kindle today.
A Living Pencil 
Carol, I’ve had this book on library hold for several weeks, and am pleased to see that I’m next in line at last! Looking forward to getting into it. Memoirs, islands, remote living, Scotland . . . all are among my faves! And if you enjoyed it, then I know I won’t be disappointed.
Thanks for the tip! I have it in my Kindle now, and I paid the extra bit for Audible. I’m trying to listen more, while putzing about. It sounds like just the kind of book I enjoy.