#blogtour: Not Your Average Nurse by Maggie Groff

4.5 stars. Review part of blog tour:

Maggie is 17 when she decides to abandon her A-levels and pursue a career in nursing. Moving to London Maggie soon falls in love with the city, and after making new friends enjoys the social life the city offers. Although initially finding nursing difficult, Maggie works hard and, despite her tutors reservations, passes her nursing account. Not Your Average Nurse follows Maggie through her nursing training and career as she lives and loves, nurses in a variety of places and finds a true passion for nursing.

Any student nurse is a fascinating, enjoyable but sometimes poignant glimpse into nursing and life in 1970’s London. Firstly I loved Maggie. She is such a strong, confident lady who isn’t afraid to stand up for herself and others when needed. I really enjoyed reading about her exploits with her friends and colleagues. It was very funny to hear what they got up to both at work and in their spare time. I wanted to be a part of their group enjoying the social life in London with them.

It was very educational for me to learn about the differences between nursing then compared with nursing now. With a lot of modern techniques and treatment not available, nursing then seemed quite primitive. It was fascinating to find out how things were done then. It was also interesting to discover more about how nurses and women were viewed then. There seemed to be a lot of sexism towards women stil. The poor pay, hours and working conditions were attributed to the fact that nursing was mainly a female career. It was great to read about Maggie and her colleagues attempt to fight against this.

To me the most enlightening part of the book was learning more about the different types of nursing available, outside of a hospital. Who knew there was a thing called Industrial nursing, that involved nurses working in shops or theatres and that a nurse might be needed in a convent. I certainly didn’t!

The tales of some of the patients Maggie nursed throughout the years were quite poignant. Learning how their experiences during the war had caused their current condition was heart breaking at times. As was her accounts of how illnesses caused by living conditions which couldn’t always be helped. It was lovely to hear how the NHS helped treat such people back then. There was such warmth and compassion shown to them, which was lovely to read about and probably wouldn’t happen now.

This is not Maggie Groff’s first book but it is the first book of hers that I have read. I will definitely be going back and reading some more of her work as I enjoyed this one very much.

Huge thanks to Rosie Margesson and Transworld publisher s for providing me with a copy of this book. If you enjoyed the Call The Midwife books you’ll love this one!