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Sue Barton #4
Sue Barton, Rural Nurse
At twenty-three, high-spirited and courageous young Sue Barton goes to practice in the White Mountains - working with Dr. Bill Barry. Bill had proposed persistently and at last, gladly, Sue decides to marry him and help him with his country practice. But fate, in the form of personal tragedy, a typhoid epidemic, and the hostility of the town to Bill as a doctor, step in to complicate their lives. It is a wonder that a hurricane could lead not to further tragedy but to a potentially exciting future for Sue, Bill, and all of Springdale. A Classic Helen Dore Boylston Book.
6 hrs. 8 mins.
6 hrs. 8 mins.
254 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1939
10 people are currently reading
132 people want to read
About the author
Helen Dore Boylston
41 books24 followersAn only child, Helen Dore Boylston attended Portsmouth public schools and trained as a nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital. Two days after graduating, she joined the Harvard medical unit that had been formed to serve with the British Army. After the war, she missed the comradeship, intense effort, and mutual dependence of people upon one another when under pressure, and joined the Red Cross to work in Poland and Albania. This work, often in isolation and with little apparent effect, wasn't satisfying. Returning to the U.S., Boylston taught nose and throat anaesthesia at Massachusetts General for two years. During this time Rose Wilder Lane read Boylston's wartime diary and arranged for it to be published in the Atlantic Monthly. - Source
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* Sue Barton
* Carol Page
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* Sue Barton
* Carol Page
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
June 4, 2016
As was the case with the book immediately preceding this one in the series, I had some mixed feelings about this installment in the Sue Barton series. On the plus side, I was, to an extent venturing out on very sketchily charted waters with this book, because in contrast to the earlier books which I read to pieces, this one I'd read just once in my youth. It was fun reading a Sue Barton book which I didn't know nearly by heart. I also found the rural New Hampshire setting interesting, and Sue's experiences there reminded me, on a superficial level, of those of Anna, the main character of Dorothy Canfield's Bonfire (a novel I read around the same time), who is also a rural nurse (in next door Vermont), and this lent Sue Barton, Rural Nurse some depth by association. Much of the book at hand concerns a medical mystery which I found reasonably intriguing. Now for the mixed feelings. So much of the conflict in the preceding book centered on whether or not Sue would give up her Henry Street nursing career to join Bill in New Hampshire earlier than planned. Then, all of a sudden at the start of the book, Bill announces that his invalid brother Elliott (never mentioned before and never mentioned again) needs expensive medical treatment, and they are going to have to postpone the wedding because his practice can't yet support a household. Sue has already quit Henry Street. What to do? She decides to come up to the little town where Bill is trying to establish himself anyway, renting lodging from a local widow. The thought that she needn't have quit her Henry Street job after all (which in the preceding book was an agonizing decision) never once crosses Sue's mind. Basically, Boylston just gave the plot strings of the series a massive and clumsy jerk, and all the characters accept the new set of circumstances quite calmly, because that suits the author's convenience. My feelings of annoyance from the preceding book, about Bill and Sue summarily deciding the future of both Sue's friend Kit and Marianna, a homeless teen Sue and Kit took under their wings, carried over into this one. It's pretty obvious that dragging the streetwise Marianna to a sleepy New Hampshire hamlet is a mistake -- but the author has them do it anyway, because, plot. Oh well. Fortunately the whole of the Sue Barton series is greater than the sum of its parts. You can tell a series has a hold on you when you kind of enjoy grousing about it.
Note on the edition:
Usually one likes one's childhood copy of a book best, but I am quite fond of the particular volume which currently sits on my shelves, and is a relatively recent acquisition. It's a shabby ex-library hardback with worn soft boards that I picked up at a very strange local used bookshop, a place I kind of hesitate to call a bookshop. It's on an industrial street, and it's hardly ever open, and the 70-something (very nice) man who runs it combines it with a knife sharpening business, and the greater part of the stock seems to be ex-library best sellers covered in grimy dust. However, I found this book here, and what charms me about it is that it used to belong to the library of the high school a few blocks away from me, which coincidentally the proprietor of the bookstore had reminisced about attending when we chatted. My Quuens neighborhood is mostly populated by recent immigrants (with a few hipsters trickling in from Brooklyn), so it was notable and interesting to meet a local old-timer. Nowadays, the school has a pretty bad reputation, and I have to say none of the students I've seen look like Sue Barton readers. The incongruity of it tickles me, somehow, even as the thought of the passage of time and the layers of change makes me wistful. I like old books.
Note on the edition:
Usually one likes one's childhood copy of a book best, but I am quite fond of the particular volume which currently sits on my shelves, and is a relatively recent acquisition. It's a shabby ex-library hardback with worn soft boards that I picked up at a very strange local used bookshop, a place I kind of hesitate to call a bookshop. It's on an industrial street, and it's hardly ever open, and the 70-something (very nice) man who runs it combines it with a knife sharpening business, and the greater part of the stock seems to be ex-library best sellers covered in grimy dust. However, I found this book here, and what charms me about it is that it used to belong to the library of the high school a few blocks away from me, which coincidentally the proprietor of the bookstore had reminisced about attending when we chatted. My Quuens neighborhood is mostly populated by recent immigrants (with a few hipsters trickling in from Brooklyn), so it was notable and interesting to meet a local old-timer. Nowadays, the school has a pretty bad reputation, and I have to say none of the students I've seen look like Sue Barton readers. The incongruity of it tickles me, somehow, even as the thought of the passage of time and the layers of change makes me wistful. I like old books.
November 21, 2007
Oh, man! I love Sue Barton. In this book, our plucky (yeah, the book took it there), redheaded nurse is in New Hampshire, her home state, where people talk in accents I sometimes have to read aloud to understand. There's a mysterious outbreak of typhoid, with some heavy foreshadowing, and her fiance, Dr. Barry, has to postpone their nuptials to attend to his invalid brother when his parents die suddenly. Based on my experience with
Sue Barton Visiting Nurse
, I expect that these storylines will be wrapped up within the next few chapters (I am about halfway through), and then we can move on to a) some manufactured "drama" and b) even more detailed descriptions of the day-to-day lives of nurses in the 1940s.
I really enjoy the language of these books. It is pleasantly old-fashioned. I realize that my description sounds kind of Nancy-Drewish, but these books really aren't. These are teenage fantasies of adulthood and what it might be like to hold a job, in an era where women were not expected to.
This book has less of a queer vibe than Visiting Nurse, although Sue still lives with women rather than with her man; somehow their attempts to get married keep getting thwarted. Veazie Ann, the caretaker of Dr. Barry's erstwhile family estate, reads as a butch housemarm, kind of an Alice (Brady Bunch).
As I read, I keep getting glimpses of how Sue may have turned out, thinking of her generation. She is the same age as my grandmother, who was, incidentally, a nurse before she married my grandfather and moved to the farm. I doubt that Nurse Barton is now running a family business and caretaking her slowly-declining husband in rural Northern California, but maybe that book just hasn't been written yet.
edited to add: Just finished this book. The ending was a non-surprise, with a couple of anti-climactic climaxes. I am going to add a spoiler here, so take this as an alert: for some reason, the author decided to end the book on the equivalent of a freeze-frame of a church full of hurricane-survivors laughing at a drunk dachshund. You read that correctly. As correctly as that can be read, anyhow.
I really enjoy the language of these books. It is pleasantly old-fashioned. I realize that my description sounds kind of Nancy-Drewish, but these books really aren't. These are teenage fantasies of adulthood and what it might be like to hold a job, in an era where women were not expected to.
This book has less of a queer vibe than Visiting Nurse, although Sue still lives with women rather than with her man; somehow their attempts to get married keep getting thwarted. Veazie Ann, the caretaker of Dr. Barry's erstwhile family estate, reads as a butch housemarm, kind of an Alice (Brady Bunch).
As I read, I keep getting glimpses of how Sue may have turned out, thinking of her generation. She is the same age as my grandmother, who was, incidentally, a nurse before she married my grandfather and moved to the farm. I doubt that Nurse Barton is now running a family business and caretaking her slowly-declining husband in rural Northern California, but maybe that book just hasn't been written yet.
edited to add: Just finished this book. The ending was a non-surprise, with a couple of anti-climactic climaxes. I am going to add a spoiler here, so take this as an alert: for some reason, the author decided to end the book on the equivalent of a freeze-frame of a church full of hurricane-survivors laughing at a drunk dachshund. You read that correctly. As correctly as that can be read, anyhow.
February 3, 2013
This was an enjoyable book, but it's not my favorite in the series. Sue doesn't seem completely ready to settle down and get married; I almost think she was a little relieved that the wedding was postponed. Maybe it's because Bill just doesn't seem to have much personality.
I did like the setting. It really made me want to go to New Hampshire and revisit those majestic mountains!
The part about the hurricane flood reminded me of a similar event in Penny Marsh: Public Health Nurse .
Content wise, this is clearly pretty innocuous. A few characters use God's name in vain, but that's really the only notable objection.
The writing has an old-fashioned charm to it which makes for pleasant escapist reading—although I don't think I got all the 1930s slang and references. Also, some of the transcribed dialogue of the locals was hard for me to decipher. It reminded me of the language in Tomie de Paola's Front Porch Tales and North Country Whoppers.
The ending seemed a bit too rushed and tidy, with Marianna suddenly deciding to stay, and the unexpected donation of a new hospital and nursing school.
I did like the setting. It really made me want to go to New Hampshire and revisit those majestic mountains!
The part about the hurricane flood reminded me of a similar event in Penny Marsh: Public Health Nurse .
Content wise, this is clearly pretty innocuous. A few characters use God's name in vain, but that's really the only notable objection.
The writing has an old-fashioned charm to it which makes for pleasant escapist reading—although I don't think I got all the 1930s slang and references. Also, some of the transcribed dialogue of the locals was hard for me to decipher. It reminded me of the language in Tomie de Paola's Front Porch Tales and North Country Whoppers.
The ending seemed a bit too rushed and tidy, with Marianna suddenly deciding to stay, and the unexpected donation of a new hospital and nursing school.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 2, 2011
Sue Barton is a Nancy-Drewlike series about a young nurse (ala Cherry Ames) as a student and in her work life. The 30s & 40s shine clearly as things are pretty sexist, and the informational parts of the books (like what it was like in poor rural communities and how badly they needed nurses and doctors) are generally out of date, but don't feel too tacked on. Presumably these were written to encourage young girls (no boys need apply!) to undertake careers in nursing or at least encourage them to continue in school.
Rural Nurse has a romance subplot as Sue moves to a rural community to be near her fiance. She has to find a way to make money, and talks to several people to set herself up as a community nurse. The solution to an epidemic is found with Sue's detection, but she CONCEALS THIS SO THAT HER FIANCE, THE DOCTOR, CAN FIGURE IT OUT ON HIS OWN AND EARN THE THANKS OF THE TOWN. Then there is an exciting weather event to round things off. Ah! The 1930s! I wonder if the children's series fiction of 2011 will seem as sexist and horrible to readers of 2091.
Fun to read popular books of the past!
Rural Nurse has a romance subplot as Sue moves to a rural community to be near her fiance. She has to find a way to make money, and talks to several people to set herself up as a community nurse. The solution to an epidemic is found with Sue's detection, but she CONCEALS THIS SO THAT HER FIANCE, THE DOCTOR, CAN FIGURE IT OUT ON HIS OWN AND EARN THE THANKS OF THE TOWN. Then there is an exciting weather event to round things off. Ah! The 1930s! I wonder if the children's series fiction of 2011 will seem as sexist and horrible to readers of 2091.
Fun to read popular books of the past!
July 15, 2015
The wedding is postponed when Bill's father dies and he has to make arrangements to take care of his brother who was crippled by polio. Bill faces hostility from the locals for failing to solve an outbreak of typhoid in his town and Sue seeks outside funding to become a rural nurse in the town to support Bill.
This book is quite grim for our main characters. Bill is stressed and losing patients. Some of them fear that Bill is the carrier of the disease and others think he is a quack because he cannot solve the case. The mutterings behind his back are one thing but his tyres are slashed and rocks are thrown at him, shocking Sue. Sue decides to play detective as more people will talk to her about recent events. I'm glad to see that Bill and Sue are working as a team instead of having petty fights in this book, and I have sympathy for what they are facing.
The plot does not feature a lot of actual nursing compared to the rest of the series but the typhoid mystery is interesting in its own right. I liked the way Sue was able to piece the whole thing together.
Kit doesn't really feature as much in this book but Bill is working hard to get her the Superintendent of Nurses job at the nearest hospital, so she can have her dream job and be closer to Sue. She is with Sue as she prepares to leave New York for New Hampshire, and later she moves out to join Sue and Marianna at Veazie Ann's house. I liked the fact that Bill and Sue are moving into town and we are meeting the local people like Ira, Veazie Ann, Lot, Martha and Elias. We have the introduction of a gorgeous puppy called Maxl who I loved instantly!
Marianna, sadly, does feature. I just don't like her at all. This time, Sue sends for her from the city and then has no time to spend with her or even notice that the girl isn't happy. When Marianna admits to hating the country, missing the city and no longer wanting to be a nurse, instead of respecting her opinion, Kit and Sue embark on a campaign to change Marianna's mind and get her to nursing school. This 'pet project' thing with Marianna has gone beyong a joke for me as this girl does not have the motivation, dedication or ability to be a nurse! It's so obvious that this will never work out! Sue should never have brought a city girl out to the country if she wasn't going to look after her and pay attention to her needs. It was pretty selfish of Sue.
I found it very hard to understand what some of the characters were saying as the author chose to use have them talking local slang. It was quite off putting and I had to read some sentences a few times to get what they were trying to say. I don't enjoy it when authors decide to use this plot device. However, it was a niggle and I didn't mark the book down for it.
I liked the way the typhoid story was concluded but my favourite bit was the town under attack from the hurricane, other than Marianna being a cow to the local kid who was talking to her. I which she'd just leave town. Overall it was still an enjoyable book and I plan to carry on with the series.
This book is quite grim for our main characters. Bill is stressed and losing patients. Some of them fear that Bill is the carrier of the disease and others think he is a quack because he cannot solve the case. The mutterings behind his back are one thing but his tyres are slashed and rocks are thrown at him, shocking Sue. Sue decides to play detective as more people will talk to her about recent events. I'm glad to see that Bill and Sue are working as a team instead of having petty fights in this book, and I have sympathy for what they are facing.
The plot does not feature a lot of actual nursing compared to the rest of the series but the typhoid mystery is interesting in its own right. I liked the way Sue was able to piece the whole thing together.
Kit doesn't really feature as much in this book but Bill is working hard to get her the Superintendent of Nurses job at the nearest hospital, so she can have her dream job and be closer to Sue. She is with Sue as she prepares to leave New York for New Hampshire, and later she moves out to join Sue and Marianna at Veazie Ann's house. I liked the fact that Bill and Sue are moving into town and we are meeting the local people like Ira, Veazie Ann, Lot, Martha and Elias. We have the introduction of a gorgeous puppy called Maxl who I loved instantly!
Marianna, sadly, does feature. I just don't like her at all. This time, Sue sends for her from the city and then has no time to spend with her or even notice that the girl isn't happy. When Marianna admits to hating the country, missing the city and no longer wanting to be a nurse, instead of respecting her opinion, Kit and Sue embark on a campaign to change Marianna's mind and get her to nursing school. This 'pet project' thing with Marianna has gone beyong a joke for me as this girl does not have the motivation, dedication or ability to be a nurse! It's so obvious that this will never work out! Sue should never have brought a city girl out to the country if she wasn't going to look after her and pay attention to her needs. It was pretty selfish of Sue.
I found it very hard to understand what some of the characters were saying as the author chose to use have them talking local slang. It was quite off putting and I had to read some sentences a few times to get what they were trying to say. I don't enjoy it when authors decide to use this plot device. However, it was a niggle and I didn't mark the book down for it.
I liked the way the typhoid story was concluded but my favourite bit was the town under attack from the hurricane, other than Marianna being a cow to the local kid who was talking to her. I which she'd just leave town. Overall it was still an enjoyable book and I plan to carry on with the series.
March 29, 2020
Sue's wedding postponed by unfortunate events, she takes on the challenge of Springdale, working as a rural nurse in the backwoods. A strange case of typhoid, threats for Dr. Barry's practice, and Marianna all combine with good old salty, homey New Hampshire folk for a cozy evening read.
May 8, 2017
Better than I remembered it, but because it doesn't have the same nostalgic pull on me, I can't rate it higher than 3 stars.
I wonder if something got lost in the translation concerning Bill's brother. We haven't heard about him at all in the earlier books, and suddenly he's in Europe and has to get electronic treatments - with no explanation as to why! Not that it's important for the book, I just found it odd.
Very much a transitional book, and I'm looking forward to seeing what the next will bring.
I wonder if something got lost in the translation concerning Bill's brother. We haven't heard about him at all in the earlier books, and suddenly he's in Europe and has to get electronic treatments - with no explanation as to why! Not that it's important for the book, I just found it odd.
Very much a transitional book, and I'm looking forward to seeing what the next will bring.
April 12, 2008
I always knew I'd be a nurse, and enjoyed books about nurses/nursing.
July 1, 2009
These are Shelly's books, so I only have until July 15 to read them!
This one bogs down a little in the middle as Sue becomes Nancy Drew in an attempt (which we know will be successful!) to discover the source of the typhoid outbreak which threatens not only the health of the rural folk, but her future husband's practice as well. Oh, the drama!
No one today would be convinced to go into nursing reading this book, but I imagine at the time, quite a few were.
Again, a pleasant peek into the past.
This one bogs down a little in the middle as Sue becomes Nancy Drew in an attempt (which we know will be successful!) to discover the source of the typhoid outbreak which threatens not only the health of the rural folk, but her future husband's practice as well. Oh, the drama!
No one today would be convinced to go into nursing reading this book, but I imagine at the time, quite a few were.
Again, a pleasant peek into the past.
April 24, 2012
Too melodramatic, too much Bill, not enough Sue rocking her awesomeness.
May 19, 2013
Read the series.
September 17, 2020
Book Four in the Sue Barton series.
Sue left her work as a Henry Street nurse to marry Dr. Barry, however, circumstances throw a wrench in their plans. I really liked that the wrench wasn’t a lack of communication as is common in books. I enjoyed this installment of the story, and Sue’s determination to work as a nurse in the small town and community where Dr. Barry is working. There is mystery and some excitement as well as laughable moments. There are many interesting characters and a dog. I love the old fashioned feel of this story and wanted to go visit the area.
This book has euphemisms like the first three books did, but it also has several swears which I whited out. Other than those it’s a fun and clean read.
Sue left her work as a Henry Street nurse to marry Dr. Barry, however, circumstances throw a wrench in their plans. I really liked that the wrench wasn’t a lack of communication as is common in books. I enjoyed this installment of the story, and Sue’s determination to work as a nurse in the small town and community where Dr. Barry is working. There is mystery and some excitement as well as laughable moments. There are many interesting characters and a dog. I love the old fashioned feel of this story and wanted to go visit the area.
This book has euphemisms like the first three books did, but it also has several swears which I whited out. Other than those it’s a fun and clean read.
September 13, 2024
As lovely as the others. I enjoyed reading about 1930s life in New Hampshire's White Mountains, old New England communities and how Sue and Bill - so dedicated! - make a difference.
Sadly, the "Old man of the mountain" is gone now ...
Sadly, the "Old man of the mountain" is gone now ...
Read
May 20, 2017So happy to be reading this series. The one my mother was reading when pregnant with me. That is why my name is Connie! Now my daughter started reading them!
February 14, 2009
Another transitional book in the series, this one getting Sue up to New Hampshire, where the remaining three books in the series will take place. We get to meet our new characters, ones that we'll get to know very well in the coming books. Although eventually got the typhoid epidemic did get to the all right already stage eventually, I think part of that stems from our perceptions of how medicine works now as opposed to how it worked then, and the relative ease of knowing where everyone is at all times now.
Also, this is where Marianna starts to get really annoying.
Also, this is where Marianna starts to get really annoying.
November 19, 2014
Possibly my favourite - there is a lot going on, and HDB conveys beautifully her landscape and its occupants, and what it's like to be young and in love. Her description of the flood waters rising is superb and the ending always brings a lump to my throat.
And perhaps I'm on my own here, but I like Bill!
And perhaps I'm on my own here, but I like Bill!
November 8, 2012
Sue ta'r affære er ligeså god som dens tre foregængere, men har endnu mere spænding i sig. Den er umulig at ligge fra sig, og jeg havde et smil på læben, da jeg var færdig med at læse bogen. Det er første gang jeg har læst dem, men helt sikkert ikke den sidste.
May 16, 2008
I didn't like it as much as Visiting Nurse. Like Marianna, I don't like the country. And the typhoid mystery was a bit broadly drawn.
October 2, 2011
Classic Jfic trash series reviewed on Ms. Wolicki Librarian account.
November 19, 2013
Ohhh crazy gender norms of the 30's!
January 30, 2015
I adored this book! I remembered very little after having read it so long ago, as a young teenager. The plot is sweet, the writing descriptively wonderful and the characters slightly too perfect!
July 18, 2024
Another outstanding book. One of the many things I love about this series are the many exciting and dramatic incidents that occur throughout the books. This one is especially dramatic in some respects and such great stories oh my gosh. They say these books are for young people but I disagree. They are great stories for anybody interested in what nursing was like in the old days before antibiotics and modern medicines and equipment. I'm glad I wasn't a patient back then because they just didn't have many tools (but they did have opium! Lol) but it's a great contrast to a modern hospital in terms of the kind of direct personal care they gave because they had nothing else. So everyone got massages and a lot of handholding and things like that which certainly don't go on in hospitals today. When I had my first baby decades ago, still very much the modern era, I had a major medical issue that I did not realize was an issue because nobody told me and I did not get a single visit from the day nurse all day long and when the night nurse came on she was utterly horrified to find me drenched in my own blood. I hadn't realized how bad it was and nobody came to see how I felt and it didn't occur to me that this was abnormal and it turned out it was very abnormal. That's the kind of thing that happens in modern hospitals. That would never have happened in the military-like atmosphere of old-fashioned nursing, which was deliberately designed to imitate the military for a wide variety of reasons. That included regimentation that forced nurses to do their jobs, and ensured that nurses were held responsible for doing their duty at all times.
September 3, 2023
Say you're a nurse with a job that you love in New York, but your doctor fiance expects you to quit your job and marry him and come work for him without pay in Buttville, New Hampshire. You quit your job and get ready to acquiesce to his unreasonable demands when his dad dies and he says, "oh btw I have a brother we've never talked about before and he needs expensive medical treatments and also he needs to go to school in Europe for some reason and I'm going to pay for that, so we can't get married for a few years, sorry I made you quit your job" except for the part where he says he's sorry because he didn't and he isn't.
You decide to follow him to Buttville anyway and manage to create your own nursing job and paycheck out of thin air. And you have more work than Doctor Fiance because the entire town blames him for the typhoid epidemic, which is not completely his fault, but since he seems incapable of figuring out the source, it is a little bit his fault. Yada yada yada, you ask maybe three different people a couple of questions and discover the typhoid source in about a week, but not only do you not take credit for it, you make sure Doctor Fiance gets the credit AND you arrange things so he thinks he was the one who figured it out.
Don't let your daughters read this without supervision.
You decide to follow him to Buttville anyway and manage to create your own nursing job and paycheck out of thin air. And you have more work than Doctor Fiance because the entire town blames him for the typhoid epidemic, which is not completely his fault, but since he seems incapable of figuring out the source, it is a little bit his fault. Yada yada yada, you ask maybe three different people a couple of questions and discover the typhoid source in about a week, but not only do you not take credit for it, you make sure Doctor Fiance gets the credit AND you arrange things so he thinks he was the one who figured it out.
Don't let your daughters read this without supervision.
September 11, 2017
I think this is one of the better books of the series. I especially liked it because the hurricane let me pinpoint the exact years in which the series took place... the hurricane of the books is known to weather nerds as the "Long Island Express" or the Great New England Hurricane of 1938. (Unusual for hurricanes, it hit both Long Island and Connecticut as a Category 3 storm, and was still a Category 1 storm when it crossed into Canada.)
I do agree that Bill is kind of a flat character, even if we actually see some personality emerge, and some of the plot contrivances are, well, contrived. (Bill's never-before-seen brother needing expensive medical treatment, etc.) That said, this series was written more for kids than even a YA audience, and at a time when social mores demanded that a woman choose between marriage and career. Overall, I enjoy the series for its look into yesterday.
I do agree that Bill is kind of a flat character, even if we actually see some personality emerge, and some of the plot contrivances are, well, contrived. (Bill's never-before-seen brother needing expensive medical treatment, etc.) That said, this series was written more for kids than even a YA audience, and at a time when social mores demanded that a woman choose between marriage and career. Overall, I enjoy the series for its look into yesterday.
June 22, 2018
Not saying it was bad per se, but neither I'm declaring my love for it.
I think the first, let's say, three books of the series are the best. The series kinda lost some of it's miraculously existing magic on the way. The plot drags, the characters got lost, there is nothing to look for underneath. There is no author's passion to look for. There's not much to look for in the first place. Except for, like, the not-really-evil-at-all guy who hates our oh-so-dear Doctor Barry... for no reason. And the weird nonexistent chemistry between the nice doc and lovely lady miss Barton.
Still not understanding my thirst* for these below mediocre level lady books.
---
* - corrected. Thanks to my grammar police
I think the first, let's say, three books of the series are the best. The series kinda lost some of it's miraculously existing magic on the way. The plot drags, the characters got lost, there is nothing to look for underneath. There is no author's passion to look for. There's not much to look for in the first place. Except for, like, the not-really-evil-at-all guy who hates our oh-so-dear Doctor Barry... for no reason. And the weird nonexistent chemistry between the nice doc and lovely lady miss Barton.
Still not understanding my thirst* for these below mediocre level lady books.
---
* - corrected. Thanks to my grammar police
January 11, 2023
I know I read this several times, and it's in good condition so that means I may not have let my younger sister read it.
The book begins, ...
The room was bright with lamplight, gay with orange curtains, and pleasantly fragrant with the smell of bath powder. It was also phenomenally untidy. A wardrobe trunk partly blocked the doorway into the hall. Hatboxes and shoes were strewn over the floor.
Yep, it's obvious that this was written quite a while ago. (1939)
The book begins, ...
The room was bright with lamplight, gay with orange curtains, and pleasantly fragrant with the smell of bath powder. It was also phenomenally untidy. A wardrobe trunk partly blocked the doorway into the hall. Hatboxes and shoes were strewn over the floor.
Yep, it's obvious that this was written quite a while ago. (1939)
April 24, 2020
This is a lovely addition to the Sue Barton series. I loved the story and reading such an old book is very interesting. That said it's totally clean and free from anything inappropriate. I think this would be great for teenagers and adults.
May 26, 2021
I have just been loving all of these books so much. I missed the Henry Street vibes but I was also into the Springdale setting. I felt that William redeemed himself in my eyes, which I was happy about, and I liked Sue's interactions with the community.
March 7, 2024
Sue's wedding is postponed, but her nursing career certainly isn't. I found the trouble a country doctor faced highly interesting and loved following Sue and Bill as they combated a strange case of Typhoid.
July 8, 2019
Still love it and all the wonderful characters!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews