What do you think?
Rate this book
The Quiet Wards: Happiness and heartache in a 1950s hospital
Young nurse Gillian Snow is blamed when a dangerous drug goes missing during her shift. But who took it?
"Arguably the best of all writers of hospital fiction." Nursing Times
Twenty-one-year-old Gillian finds her career at risk when a dangerous drug disappears from the drug cupboard under her care. The situation also affects her romance with dashing house-surgeon Peter Kier .
Moved from her ward to do other duties, Gillian experiences the happiness and heartache that comes from nursing both children and accident victims.
As she struggles to understand who took the drug, and why, Gillian finds support and truth from some unexpected quarters.
The Quiet Wards is the third novel by the bestselling hospital fiction author Lucilla Andrews. For the first time, Lucilla's novels are now available as ebooks. More at www.lucillaandrews.com
Perfect for fans of Donna Douglas and her Nightingales series, Jean Fullerton, Maggie Hope and Nadine Dorries.
"Arguably the best of all writers of hospital fiction." Nursing Times
Twenty-one-year-old Gillian finds her career at risk when a dangerous drug disappears from the drug cupboard under her care. The situation also affects her romance with dashing house-surgeon Peter Kier .
Moved from her ward to do other duties, Gillian experiences the happiness and heartache that comes from nursing both children and accident victims.
As she struggles to understand who took the drug, and why, Gillian finds support and truth from some unexpected quarters.
The Quiet Wards is the third novel by the bestselling hospital fiction author Lucilla Andrews. For the first time, Lucilla's novels are now available as ebooks. More at www.lucillaandrews.com
Perfect for fans of Donna Douglas and her Nightingales series, Jean Fullerton, Maggie Hope and Nadine Dorries.
247 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1956
About the author
Lucilla Andrews
85 books10 followersLucilla Matthew Andrews Crichton
aka
Lucilla Andrews, Diana Gordon, Joanna Marcus.
Lucilla Matthew Andrews was born on 20 November 1919 in Suez, Egypt, the third of four children of William Henry Andrews and Lucilla Quero-Bejar. They met in Gibraltar, and married in 1913. Her mother was daughter of a Spanish doctor and descended from the Spanish nobility. Her British father workerd by the Eastern Telegraph Company (later Cable and Wireless) on African and Mediterranean stations until 1932. At the age of three, she was sent to join her older sister at boarding school in Sussex.
She joined the British Red Cross in 1940 and later trained as a nurse at St Thomas' Hospital, London, during World War II. In 1947, she retired and married Dr James Crichton, and she discovered, that he was addicted to drugs. In 1949, soon after their daugther Veronica was born, he was committed to hospital and she returned to nursing and writing. In 1952, she sold her firt romance novel, published in 1954, the same year that her husband died. She specialised in Doctor-Nurse romances, using her personal experience as inspiration, and wrote over thirty-five novels since 1996. In 1969, she decided moved to Edinburgh.
Her daugther read History at Newnham College, Cambridge, and became a journalist and Labour Party communications adviser, before her death from cancer in 2002. In late 2006, Lucilla Andrews' autobiography No Time for Romance became the focus of a posthumous controversy. It has been alleged that the novelist Ian McEwan plagiarized from this work while writing his highly-acclaimed novel, Atonement. McEwan has protested his innocence. She passed away on 3 October 2006. She was a founder member of the Romantic Novelists' Association, which honoured her shortly before her death with a lifetime achievement award.
aka
Lucilla Andrews, Diana Gordon, Joanna Marcus.
Lucilla Matthew Andrews was born on 20 November 1919 in Suez, Egypt, the third of four children of William Henry Andrews and Lucilla Quero-Bejar. They met in Gibraltar, and married in 1913. Her mother was daughter of a Spanish doctor and descended from the Spanish nobility. Her British father workerd by the Eastern Telegraph Company (later Cable and Wireless) on African and Mediterranean stations until 1932. At the age of three, she was sent to join her older sister at boarding school in Sussex.
She joined the British Red Cross in 1940 and later trained as a nurse at St Thomas' Hospital, London, during World War II. In 1947, she retired and married Dr James Crichton, and she discovered, that he was addicted to drugs. In 1949, soon after their daugther Veronica was born, he was committed to hospital and she returned to nursing and writing. In 1952, she sold her firt romance novel, published in 1954, the same year that her husband died. She specialised in Doctor-Nurse romances, using her personal experience as inspiration, and wrote over thirty-five novels since 1996. In 1969, she decided moved to Edinburgh.
Her daugther read History at Newnham College, Cambridge, and became a journalist and Labour Party communications adviser, before her death from cancer in 2002. In late 2006, Lucilla Andrews' autobiography No Time for Romance became the focus of a posthumous controversy. It has been alleged that the novelist Ian McEwan plagiarized from this work while writing his highly-acclaimed novel, Atonement. McEwan has protested his innocence. She passed away on 3 October 2006. She was a founder member of the Romantic Novelists' Association, which honoured her shortly before her death with a lifetime achievement award.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 26, 2020
I loved it. Difficult to justify. Somewhat better characterization and prose than most romances of the era, though - and some very clear-sighted, snippy observations on the narcissist mindset and 'frenemies'.
July 4, 2019
The third book by Lucilla Andrews, set in the fictional St Joseph’s where Nurse Gillian Snow is held responsible when four phials of dangerous drugs go missing on her night duty. Working her way out of the disgrace, she discovers who her true friends are - and of course, romance - because after all this is a hospital romance!
Plenty to learn about 1950s hospital routine - when nurses still wore starched aprons and caps, still lived in a nursing home under the care of a Home Sister, followed hospital etiquette to the letter and completed an immense number of tasks on the hospital wards, from cleaning to the bedside care of dangerously ill patients.
An easy read because the author had not yet developed into the long convoluted sentences she indulged in in her later works. However, I’d have liked a more satisfactory ending to the missing drug thread of the story.
Plenty to learn about 1950s hospital routine - when nurses still wore starched aprons and caps, still lived in a nursing home under the care of a Home Sister, followed hospital etiquette to the letter and completed an immense number of tasks on the hospital wards, from cleaning to the bedside care of dangerously ill patients.
An easy read because the author had not yet developed into the long convoluted sentences she indulged in in her later works. However, I’d have liked a more satisfactory ending to the missing drug thread of the story.
November 9, 2021
Very realistic story of hospital life in London in the mid twentieth century. I feel I did read this one as a teen, maybe, maybe not! A little romance, not a lot. Mostly the life of nurses in a hospital.
October 15, 2022
A Simply Wonderful Sweet Romance
The 3rd time I have read this lovely romance. And I think I have finally understood why writers pair up young women with men so much older than them. In this love story John Dexter is the Senior Surgical Officer at St Joseph's Hospital. He is 37. Nurse Gillian Snow is 24. How did he get to be SSO? Andrews could have made John a little younger but I am sure she knew he would need this time span to become such a good SSO. And is Gill not yet sleeping with her boyfriend, Peter? She is just at the age when today (and then) she must be sleeping with him. They have been dating for 2 years for heaven's sake
Of course, Andrews does not mention this. More importantly Gill is nearly finishing her 4 year term. What does she plan to do then?
Despite the gap in their ages, this is a lovely romance.
Review in January 2022
Lucilla Andrews wrote marvelous romances. Actually they are more hospital stories than anything else because she weaves the romance tightly into her story together with the story of the hospital so that one does not realize what she is doing. Gillian Snow is a 4th year nurse and considers Peter Kier, doctor at her hospital, her boyfriend. She is best friends with Carol Ash. One day a vial of morphine goes missing while Gillian is in charge and she is transferred to a different ward. She is thrown together with the Senior Surgical Officer and begins to think more and more about him.
The 3rd time I have read this lovely romance. And I think I have finally understood why writers pair up young women with men so much older than them. In this love story John Dexter is the Senior Surgical Officer at St Joseph's Hospital. He is 37. Nurse Gillian Snow is 24. How did he get to be SSO? Andrews could have made John a little younger but I am sure she knew he would need this time span to become such a good SSO. And is Gill not yet sleeping with her boyfriend, Peter? She is just at the age when today (and then) she must be sleeping with him. They have been dating for 2 years for heaven's sake
Of course, Andrews does not mention this. More importantly Gill is nearly finishing her 4 year term. What does she plan to do then?
Despite the gap in their ages, this is a lovely romance.
Review in January 2022
Lucilla Andrews wrote marvelous romances. Actually they are more hospital stories than anything else because she weaves the romance tightly into her story together with the story of the hospital so that one does not realize what she is doing. Gillian Snow is a 4th year nurse and considers Peter Kier, doctor at her hospital, her boyfriend. She is best friends with Carol Ash. One day a vial of morphine goes missing while Gillian is in charge and she is transferred to a different ward. She is thrown together with the Senior Surgical Officer and begins to think more and more about him.
March 15, 2021
This book has all the plot elements I've seen in all the other Lucilla Andrews books I've read so far, and I really don't understand why all of her heroes have to be so tall, but despite the similarity to the other plots, the author includes enough about the inner workings of the hospital to keep me interested. Like another reviewer, however, I do wish that the plot with the loss of the drugs had been resolved in a more satisfying way.
July 28, 2020
Excellent Reading
Lucille Andrews is a marvel at bringing her stories alive have never read one l didn't enjoy and have been reading them for a long time
Lucille Andrews is a marvel at bringing her stories alive have never read one l didn't enjoy and have been reading them for a long time
March 14, 2026
I loved this one. I thoroughly enjoyed the hospital interactions and the characters, and the ending was very sweet for a Lucilla Andrews. There was even a little bit of mystery.
May 16, 2026
One of my favourites by the author. A nurse is involved in the loss of a dangerous drug from a ward and have to determine who she can trust.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews