WHISPERS

by Pam Rhodes

A busy doctors' surgery in a small West Country town witnesses many close relationships and rivalries, human problems and frailties - among the doctors as well as their patients. Doctor Simon Gatward is popular with staff and patients sympathetic and compassionate, he always makes time to listen to personal problems as well as physical ones. But Simon himself has a tragedy in his past that casts a shadow over his life. And when he takes over responsibility for a new patient - a young man who has come home to die - it's a past that comes back to haunt him.

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Pam Rhodes for many years has presented the world’s numberone religious television program, Songs of Praise on BBC. She writes for the UK national newspaper, the Daily Mail, and is also a successful novelist—author of The Dunbridge Chronicles, With Hearts and Hymns and Voices, and four other novels, as well as a number of additional books.

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

It didn't look very promising from the cover but that's where the old saying comes in "never judge a book by it's cover" This is a nice easy read where you get a feel for the characters. It was written twenty years ago now and public attitudes towards aids have changed. I'm only in my early thirties now so I was unaware of how people with aids were marginalised and shunned within society. It was a poignant story and one that I enjoyed.

[Joy Norman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked that the characters were very real. I can remember the horror when AIDS was first talked about and in the community. Whether it was plain ignorance or is it partly wanting to judge other people. What a terrible time they had then and rejection of often their family and community that they had grown up in. I think the issues were well thought out and covered lots of issues around aids. We are not really any different today unfortunately. I will be looking for another of her books

[Jan Bailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well drawn characters in this novel set in a medical practice. Thank goodness for the change in attitudes towards AIDS and gays since the late 1990s.

[Helen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this book very much.