A DUBLIN STUDENT DOCTOR

A DUBLIN STUDENT DOCTOR by Patrick Taylor

From the book jacket:

Patrick Taylor's devoted readers know Doctor Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly as a pugnacious general practitioner in the quaint Irish village of Ballybucklebo.  Now Taylor turns back the clock to give us a portrait of the young Fingal - and show us the pivotal events that shaped the man he would become.

In the 1930's, fresh from a stint in the Royal Navy Reserve, and against the wishes of his disapproving father, Fingal O'Reilly goes to Dublin to study medicine.  Fingal and his fellow aspiring doctors face the arduous demands of Trinity College and Sir Patrick Dun's Hospital.  The hours are long and the cases challenging, but Fingal manages to find time to box and play rugby - and to romance a fetching, gray-eyed nurse named Kitty O'Hallorhan.

Dublin is a city of slums and tenements, where brutal poverty breeds diseases that the limited medical knowledge of the time is often ill-equipped to handle.  His teachers warn Fingal not to become too attached to his patients, but can he truly harden himself to the suffering he sees all around him - or can he find a way to care for his patients without breaking his heart?

This is the sixth book in the Irish Country Novel series, and I've loved every one.  How could I not - they're set in my favorite yet-to-visit place, Ireland.

I  enjoyed reading about Doctor O'Reilly's days in medical school, and his anxiety about performing a new procedure for the very first time.  It reminded me of my early days in nursing school.  I could also relate to his fear of some of his instructors - I had one nursing instructor who scared the devil out of me.

The characters in these books are so real and so human.  They have faults and feelings.  As usual, Doctor O'Reilly's housekeeper, Mrs.Kincaid wrote the afterword and included some yummy recipes.  And there is also a glossary in the back of the book, explaining many of the Irish terms.  I think this book is the best in the series so far.