Call the Nurse: True Stories of a Country Nurse on a Scottish Isle

By Mary J. MacLeod and Lady Claire Macdonald of Macdonald

Tired of the pace and noise of life near London and longing for a better place to raise their young children, Mary J. MacLeod and her husband encountered their dream while vacationing on a remote island in the Scottish Hebrides. Enthralled by its windswept beauty, they soon were the proud owners of a near-derelict croft house—a farmer’s stone cottage—on “a small acre” of land. Mary assumed duties as the island’s district nurse. Call the Nurse is her account of the enchanted years she and her family spent there, coming to know its folk as both patients and friends.

In anecdotes that are by turns funny, sad, moving, and tragic, she recalls them all, the crofters and their laird, the boatmen and tradesmen, young lovers and forbidding churchmen. Against the old-fashioned island culture and the grandeur of mountain and sea unfold indelible stories: a young woman carried through snow for airlift to the hospital; a rescue by boat; the marriage of a gentle giant and the island beauty; a ghostly encounter; the shocking discovery of a woman in chains; the flames of a heather fire at night; an unexploded bomb from World War II; and the joyful, tipsy celebration of a ceilidh. Gaelic fortitude meets a nurse’s compassion in these wonderful true stories from rural Scotland.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcade Publishing
• Release date: Apr 4, 2013
• ISBN: 9781611459173

Mary J. MacLeod

Mary J. MacLeod qualified as a nurse in England and has lived in Aden (now Yemen), the United States, Sweden, and Saudi Arabia as well as her husband George's native Scotland. This is her second book, and she has written her third. She currently lives in England.

Reviews for Call the Nurse

[ladycato · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There's a strong element of nostalgia to the book Call the Nurse, even as the memories are often tinged with darkness. Mary J. MacLeod moved with her husband and two youngest children to a remote Scottish island. Her husband began to work as an electrician, while she began to make the rounds as a nurse, encountering the people of the nearby isles at their best and at their worst. Many of the tales aren't so much about her medical practice as it is about life on the island; the information is downright fascinating, from the perils of the geography (weather, plane crash, peat-harvesting) to the incredible personalities in nearby crofts. What the cover copy of the book did NOT mention was that these memories are actually from the early 1970s. This is absolutely vital to the story, as 'the electric' had only recently come to the isles, with many crofts lacking indoor plumbing, and some older residents so old that they remember the Clearances and World War I. A few hippies show up and dazzle the residents, too.If you're triggered by tales of abuse, note that there are several dark stories, as the remote location makes it easier for hermits to engage in horrible crimes against women. There's a particularly sad case of incest, too.Overall, it's an interesting book, and one that should definitely be read while keeping in mind the context of the time and place. I will be holding onto it as a reference book, simply because the insight into the croft system and island life intrigues me.

[setnahkt · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A London couple takes a vacation in the Hebrides, falls in love with the islands, and moves there. The husband becomes the local electrician and has plenty of work on the fishing fleet; the wife is a nurse and had plenty of work doing that. There’s lovely scenery populated with eccentric but loveable Scots; sort of like the James Herriot vet stories but with kilts and a different accent.But there’s a disquieting undercurrent. It’s a small island and there’s been just a little inbreeding. Some of the islanders are eccentric, alright, but don’t qualify as loveable. I suppose the stories wouldn’t be as interesting if they were all about sightseeing strolls in the heather.

[laytonwoman3rd · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In 1970, Nurse Mary-J and her husband George decided to give up the hectic pace of life in the south of England, and try a simpler, sturdier sort of existence on a windy island in the Hebrides. Although George had been born in Glasgow and had ancestral ties to the islands, he had never even visited there, and neither of them "had the Gaelic", which so many islanders still spoke, some exclusively. Mary-J took the job as district nurse among the crofters and villagers in what even a rural girl like myself would surely see as a god-forsaken countryside. Long winters; brief summers; rugged but often eccentric crofters and their families living in far-flung cottages accessible by roads barely recognizable as such; a cottage hospital equipped to handle only the mildest of complaints; a culture strongly bound to tradition; and all supplies that could not be grown, raised or manufactured on the land available only through a long and often dangerous water crossing to the mainland. Yet MacLeod loved her years on the island she called Papavray (a fictive name), and as she wrote this memoir much later, in her '80's, she longed to return one more time to the land of peat bogs and rocky shores. This is reminiscent of James Herriot's Yorkshire adventures, but MacLeod spares us the goriest of details, never pokes even the slightest bit of fun at her patients, and leaves the reader with a healthy respect for the hardy souls who lived this sort of life well into the second half of the 20th century. I was also struck by the total absence of the concept of "women's work" in this society, where self-reliance and practicality demanded that anyone be prepared to take on anything that needed doing.

[rainpebble_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Call the Nurse: True Stories of a Country Nurse on a Scottish Isle by Mary J. MacLeod; R/L bookclub; (3*)While reading this it came to me that there is no right nor wrong way to write a memoir. Some writers of memoirs tell their story in picturesque ways. Some tell theirs very matter of fact. We see their life in the prose they use, in the detail of their writing, in their descriptions of the people, the homes, their work, the history surrounding their story and in the manner they describe the locale or locales.In this non-sentimental memoir the author tells of a time in the 1970s when she, her husband, and their two youngest children (the older two being off at University) came to live on an island in Scotland's Hebrides Isles. They wanted to get away from the busy, busy lives of living in London and had holidayed here and wanted to live a slower life albeit a more difficult one.The day they arrived they found a croft (farm) with a house, though dilapidated, that was approved for them to buy. They decided to take a chance and made the purchase. They lived in a 'caravan' or camp trailer until the renovations were complete and then moved into their croft house.MacLeod, who is a nurse, took a job assisting the island doctor as a traveling nurse. Her husband did odd jobs both on and off the Island.The format of her memoir is similar to that of a chapter book in that the author writes a few pages about working with a particular patient and the next bit is about a different patient. But she doesn't just write about the patients. She writes of the countryside, how they came to be there, her family and their life whilst there.........I found it very interesting. It is not literature by any means but it definitely held my interest while reading it and it is a quick read. I found all of the characters realistic and believable and as I love all books about Scotland and the Scots, I found this one also quite to my taste.

[cherilove · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The first third or so was enjoyable, but I got the feeling that it was going to be just more of the same, so quit at that point.

[harray-41169 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An interesting read about life on one of the Hebrides islands.

[pattylee-621744 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is probably an overly generous rating but having visited the Hebrides and fallen in love with the islands I found the book very interesting. There’s no real through line; each chapter is a tale in itself but many of the islanders make repeat appearances and the reader gets a real feel for the tough but beautiful life here. Granted, much time has passed since the book was written and the islands have had to change with the times.

[jennybeast · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

How did I fail to review the first one? I loved this book -- I love Mary-J's voice; her interesting stories; her ability to transport the reader to a vastly different time and place. Great stuff.

[seasidebookclub · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

True story of a country nurse in the Scottish Isles. Different stories. Reminded her of the James Herriot series.

[renardkitsune · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is an interesting book about the Hebrides Islands of Scotland. The examples of self-reliant living and customs that date back to feudal times are fascinating. MacLeod also paints the scenery and weather of the islands beautifully. However, the way that McLeod delves into the darker and more sordid stories of the island comes off as gossipy. She changes the names of the people and the islands, but it still feels like a breach of confidentiality. Of course, without these stories, it wouldn’t be nearly so interesting a read. The narrator’s wispy, ethereal voice seems a contrast to McLeod’s practical demeanor, though (to an untrained outside) it seems she gets the cadence of the islands accents well.

[clue_4 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Mary MacLeod worked as a district nurse on a Hebridean island after she and her husband decided to escape their frenetic lifestyle in the south of England in the 1970s. There are forty-two short chapters in which she tells of the exploits of the local people, most of whom had ancestors on the island in generations past. Some of the anecdotes are funny and some sad but all of them are interesting and give us a clear understanding of the harsh life and the strong character of the inhabitants. Well worth my time and greatly enjoyed.