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. Being a nurse can be challenging at the best of times, but being a nurse on a remote Scottish island is something else altogether. In this charming memoir, MacLeod recounts her adventures as a nurse in the Hebrides in the 1970s. With MacLeod as a trusty guide, readers are welcomed into the island inhabitants’ crofts with their smoky peat fires. The book feels like a letter from a friend who has an eye for travel writing (despite employing clichéd phrases like “Little did I know” and overusing exclamation points). With a nurse’s no-nonsense manner, MacLeod relays tales of adventure, finding humor and humanity in her experiences but rarely revealing more of herself than necessary. She ably describes the quirks and generosity of the islanders as they face a series of emergencies and celebrate happy occasions. Instead of an overall narrative, this book reads, as the introduction attests, more like looking through a photo album, with a gloss of nostalgia that readers will enjoy. For James Herriot fans, without the animals. --Bridget Thoreson “ The book feels like a letter from a friend who has an eye for travel writing. . . . With a nurse’s no-nonsense manner, MacLeod relays tales of adventure, finding humor and humanity in her experiences. . . . For James Herriot fans, without the animals. ” ( Bridget Thoreson, Booklist ) “ The book is a lovely account of ordinary people thriving in an extraordinary landscape. . . .Cozy and chatty, these stories offer an intriguing glimpse into life as a nurse on a remote Scottish island. ” ( Kirkus Reviews ) “Julia MacLeod has written a book which encapsulates Hebridean life during some decades past . . . with a sensitivity that reflects her nursing career. ” ( Lady Claire Macdonald of Macdonald, from her foreword ) “This charming, bracing reminiscence of life on a remote Hebridean island captures a vanishing world filled with memorable stories and characters. It ranges from birth to death, with accounts of celebrations and tragedies, elemental struggles and essential relationships, and unique customs and traditions in a culture few of us have encountered. Mary J. MacLeod makes you care, moves you, amuses you, shocks you, teaches you: This is a surprising, satisfying memoir.” ( Floyd Skloot, author of In the Shadow of Memory and The Wink of the Zenith: The Shaping of a Writer’s Life ) “Julia MacLeod shares unique and enchanting experiences as a nurse in rural Scotland. Her stories will ring true with every nurse—or anyone—who has ever cared for a family or a community, whether in Scotland or America. Call the Nurse is a delightful read. ” ( LeAnn Thieman, author of Chicken Soup for the Nurse's Soul ) “ Call the Midwife gave [us]...the profession in 1950s London. Now a retired district nurse [gives us] the heartwarming and humorous-yet often shocking-events on a remote Scottish island.” ( Sunday Post ) 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. Call the Nurse True Stories of a Country Nurse on a Scottish Isle By Mary J. MacLeod Arcade Publishing Copyright © 2012 Mary J. MacLeod All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-61145-831-2 Contents Foreword by Lady Claire Macdonald of Macdonald, 5, Author's Note and Acknowledgements, 6, Prologue Nostalgia, 7, One On Papavray, 9, Two Meeting Alistair, 15, Three A 'small acre', 21, Four Katy, 29, Five A nurse 's nightmare, 36, Six Back to work, 40, Seven A castle and a corpus, 46, Eight Deep ditches and high hills, 52, Nine A ceilidh and a