A New Doctor at Orchard Cottage Hospital by Lizzie Lane
Genre: Historical fiction, Sagas, Post WW1
Read: 19th May 2024
Published: 23rd May 2024
★★★ 3 stars
DESCRIPTION:
A country town in need of a good Doctor, but will they accept her as one of their own?
Somerset, March 1930
Born in the workhouse and adopted by a former suffragette, Frances Brakespeare was encouraged from an early age to be strong, independent and to pursue a career as a doctor. The tragic loss of the love of her life in the Great War propels Frances to commit to her one true vocation.
Rebelling against the unfair treatment of female doctors Frances is dismissed from her London post and things continue to take a turn for the worse when Izzy, her benefactress dies and Frances finds herself homeless.
With no employment or roof over her head her future seems uncertain until she’s offered a residency at the Orchard Cottage Hospital in Norton Dene, Somerset. a town where quarrying and coal mining scar the land.
It’s a far cry from London and towns narrow minds are not so welcoming of a young, female Doctor, but she’s determined to win through.
At first sight the town seems quaintly old fashioned, a place where nothing much happens but there are secrets and sins bubbling beneath the surface plus a mystery she's determined to solve.
MY THOUGHTS:
Not everyone's happy to welcome her...
Beginning in 1900 at All Saints Workshouse in London, where babies were born to women who could barely feed themselves let alone a little one. On one such morning, six newborn babies were laid out swaddled in blankets that prevented them from moving as Isabelle Brakespeare paid a visit with one specific child in mind. The doctor and matron were oblivious to Izzy's intentions so when she asked which baby was Mary Baker's they were momentarily speechless. Indicating a small baby girl, the matron handed Izzy the child that was to grow up under Izzy's guardianship - as an independent woman wanting for nothing...and knowing what she wants. Matron didn't let on that Mary Baker had intended to return for her child...but then they all say that.
Some three decades later in 1930, Frances Brakspeare has just lost her mentor and guardian Izzy and the family's solicitors have issued Frances a letter asking her to vacate the family home that had been hers since Izzy brought her home 30 years ago. The home that Izzy had living rights until the end of her days but no one else. Now the family wants the house back.
Frances had been brought up by former suffragette Izzy to be a strong and independent woman with no need for a man. Although she was engaged during the Great War to the love of her life, she also lost him just months before the war ended thus paving the way for her to follow Izzy's dreams of her becoming a doctor. Now at 30, Frances passed at the top of her class but had been downgraded so as to not outshine her male counterparts and had been working at a London hospital the past few years. However, she was as outspoken as she was driven which thus lead to her dismissal from the hospital for failing to apologise to a male doctor whose arrogance was well known among the staff.
Then Frances saw a posting for a doctor at a cottage hospital in Somerset, a world away from the hustle and bustle of London. A village which she discovered needing dragging into the twentieth century in terms of attitudes and medical advances. Her appointment was not without acrimony to begin with but she soon warmed the hearts of even the coldest committee member. Well, except for Simon Grainger, son of the Brigadier who ran the local mine. It seemed he was dead against change of any kind unless he was implementing it.
Within the village of Norton Dene, Frances made friends with just about everyone from the first. The two nurses who worked alongside her at the hospital also working part time to keep house for her - Lucy Daniels and Nancy Skittings - her ladyship up at Orchard Manor and of course the vicar Gregory Sampson, who carried with him a secret.
Overall, the book was okay. Not one of Lizzie's best as I found it a little sluggish to start and bogged down with nothing much in between. I was excited to read it but it didn't live up to my expectations a some of her other series which I have enjoyed such as Coronation Close (of which I hope there will be more).
I'm not sure if I would read another in this series though I am interested to see what Frances' answer to a certain proposal will be. A woman who had confined herself to remain a spinster after her beloved Ralph's death in the Great War.
I would like to thank #LizzieLane, #Netgalley, #BoldwoodBooks and #RachelsRandomResources for an ARC of #ANewDoctorAtOrchardCottagehospital in exchange for an honest review.
MEET THE AUTHOR:
Working jobs she's hated purely to keep a roof over her family’s head and a meal on the table, she then discovered writing. Encouraged by an American writer friend and when a time came there were no jobs and no other option, she took the plunge. She is now the author of over 50 books, a number of which have been bestsellers. As a Bristolian, many of her family worked in the cigarette and cigar factories, inspiring her new saga series The Tobacco Girls.
Up until six years ago her home (and that of her late husband) was a 46ft sailing yacht named Sarabande Serene, sailing into the Mediterranean. So besides being a successful author Lizzie can read navigation charts and react swiftly in a storm.
Lizzie is now landlocked in a town close to the city of Bath.
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