An Irish Country Doctor
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Average rating3.8
Barry Laverty, M.B., can barely find the village of Ballybucklebo on a map when he first sets out to seek gainful employment there, but already he knows that there is nowhere he would rather live than in the emerald hills and dales of Northern Ireland. The proud owner of a spanking-new medical degree and little else in the way of worldly possessions, Barry jumps at the chance to secure a position as an assistant in a small rural practice.
At least until he meets Dr. Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly.
The older physician, whose motto is to never let the patients get the upper hand, has his own way of doing things. At first, Barry can't decide if the pugnacious O'Reilly is the biggest charlatan he has ever met, or the best teacher he could ever hope for. Through O'Reilly Barry soon gets to know all of the village's colorful and endearing residents, including:
A malingering Major and his equally hypochondriacal wife;
An unwed servant girl, who refuses to divulge the father of her upcoming baby;
A slightly daft old couple unable to marry for lack of a roof;
And a host of other eccentric characters who make every day an education for the inexperienced young doctor.
Ballybucklebo is long way from Belfast, and Barry is quick to discover that he still has a lot to learn about the quirks and traditions of country life. But with pluck and compassion and only the slightest touch of blarney, he will find out more about life―and love―than he ever imagined back in medical school.
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10 primary books11 released booksIrish Country
Irish Country is a 11-book series with 10 primary works first released in 2004 with contributions by Patrick Taylor.
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A cozy historical novel that follows a young, just-graduated medical student to his first apprenticeship with a general practitioner in Ballybucklebo, Ireland. This is the first book in a series that follows Dr. Barry Laverty in his medical mentorship and the ways of Irish country life in the mid-1960s. I especially liked the detailed descriptions of rural doctoring and diagnosing as practiced during this era.
I listened to this on audiobook and the narrator did all the accents and pronunciations with a believable Irish voice. I think this made the book more enjoyable for me because I would have stumbled over all the unfamiliar Irish speech and spellings. I'll probably look for the rest in the series in audiobook for this reason.
