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The Light in the Ward: Romance and heartache in a 1960s hospital
Young nurse Cathy Newenden encounters hope and heartache on the wards of a 1960s hospital. But will she find romance too?
When Cathy moves into her cousin's flat she doesn't bargain on her new neighbour - hospital consultant Dr Andrew Lairg. A misunderstanding means the pair get off to a bad start. Could the tragedy of Dr Lairg's first wife be behind his brusque manner?
Meanwhile, Cathy can't help becoming attached to some of the patients in the acute male orthopaedic ward. Will dear old Professor Brown pull through to make the long journey to his daughter in Australia? Can Tiny Ellis recover from his injuries caused by a serious car crash?
Cathy is moved by the patients' humour and bravery as she nurses them through each night shift. She learns that courage is the one light in this ward that never goes out. And Cathy, too, will need courage to face the challenges in her personal and professional life.
Another heart-warming romance and unique insight into the lives of nurses and doctors in the 1960s, with all of the trademark warmth and realism of a hospital story by Lucilla Andrews.
The Light in the Ward is the twelfth 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
When Cathy moves into her cousin's flat she doesn't bargain on her new neighbour - hospital consultant Dr Andrew Lairg. A misunderstanding means the pair get off to a bad start. Could the tragedy of Dr Lairg's first wife be behind his brusque manner?
Meanwhile, Cathy can't help becoming attached to some of the patients in the acute male orthopaedic ward. Will dear old Professor Brown pull through to make the long journey to his daughter in Australia? Can Tiny Ellis recover from his injuries caused by a serious car crash?
Cathy is moved by the patients' humour and bravery as she nurses them through each night shift. She learns that courage is the one light in this ward that never goes out. And Cathy, too, will need courage to face the challenges in her personal and professional life.
Another heart-warming romance and unique insight into the lives of nurses and doctors in the 1960s, with all of the trademark warmth and realism of a hospital story by Lucilla Andrews.
The Light in the Ward is the twelfth 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
217 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1965
60 people are currently reading
30 people want to read
About the author
Lucilla Andrews
85 books9 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.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 30, 2020
One of those Andrews books where hero and heroine silently pine for one another until the very end of the book because each believes their beloved is promised to another, but in the meantime our narrator (I can never remember these girls' names, it's a failing) is a pleasant companion and I appreciated the fact that the other man had an actual personality (best described as "spoiled thoughtless charming rich kid," but Andrews went all in on analyzing his myriad issues without making excuses for him).
January 30, 2020
Not much cop, très serieusement. No convincing interaction between hero and heroine, nothing that would make their eventual union remotely convincing. Can't work out how it's got the rating it has, compared to other better titles by Andrews.
May 3, 2021
I've finally figured it out: all of the romances in Andrews's books work in exactly the same way, or rather there are about three variations of the same plot. What she does instead is vary the nursing that the main character does. The hero is this book is sympathetic, but the real relationship in this novel is the one between the main character and the men she serves in Albert Ward. Those details were interesting to read, and the romance didn't get in the way.
On a totally unrelated note, the 1960s seems late for a novel where marrying a first cousin isn't seen as unusual. And their fathers are twins, like in Mary Stewart's The Gabriel Hounds (the UK version, not the US version). At least in this one she doesn't marry him.
On a totally unrelated note, the 1960s seems late for a novel where marrying a first cousin isn't seen as unusual. And their fathers are twins, like in Mary Stewart's The Gabriel Hounds (the UK version, not the US version). At least in this one she doesn't marry him.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 28, 2021
A Really Nice Romance
Lucilla Andrews writes about hospitals, nurses, doctors and consultants managing to entwine the romance with the hospital routine. Usually she does it very well as here in her story of night nurse Cathy Newenden and her nights on Albert ward in a London hospital. She becomes attracted to her next door neighbor, Dr Andrew Leirg, but he is a consultant and she a lowly nurse. It is fun to see how they get closer and closer. A terrific romance.
Lucilla Andrews writes about hospitals, nurses, doctors and consultants managing to entwine the romance with the hospital routine. Usually she does it very well as here in her story of night nurse Cathy Newenden and her nights on Albert ward in a London hospital. She becomes attracted to her next door neighbor, Dr Andrew Leirg, but he is a consultant and she a lowly nurse. It is fun to see how they get closer and closer. A terrific romance.
October 20, 2024
This is by no means badly written or contains editing issues. It didn't drag and I was able to read it in a day. I didn't love it as much as I would have based on the blurb. This is just the case of not my cup of tea.
The book feels more like a documentary than a romance novel. I read in one review that " romance didn't stand in the way" . That sort of sums up the romance in the book. The plot line with Tiny was heartbreaking.
If someone is interested in nursing and what nurses do on a day to day basis, this book might be interesting. But I feel that some more interactions are needed for the all encompassing love that we see in romantic novels. And of course the cousin thing sounds weird in this day and age. Probably not that weird when it was written.
The book feels more like a documentary than a romance novel. I read in one review that " romance didn't stand in the way" . That sort of sums up the romance in the book. The plot line with Tiny was heartbreaking.
If someone is interested in nursing and what nurses do on a day to day basis, this book might be interesting. But I feel that some more interactions are needed for the all encompassing love that we see in romantic novels. And of course the cousin thing sounds weird in this day and age. Probably not that weird when it was written.
July 18, 2025
Published 1965 and set in 1964, 16 years after the NHS has been set up. Cathy is working nights in a male orthopaedic ward - there’s lots about hospital procedure back then when people stayed in hospital for weeks and even months - and some of the patients make major contributions to the story.
Off duty, she’s living in her cousin’s flat and next door to a cardiologist “pundit”, - you know how the story is going to end but the romance aspect of the plot is pretty unconvincing in this plot. Nevertheless, a pleasant light read and I do enjoy reading about how hospitals operated back then.
Off duty, she’s living in her cousin’s flat and next door to a cardiologist “pundit”, - you know how the story is going to end but the romance aspect of the plot is pretty unconvincing in this plot. Nevertheless, a pleasant light read and I do enjoy reading about how hospitals operated back then.
April 12, 2019
Good ending, reread twice
January 1, 2023
Nursing
Great read. Love the characters, and the description of the hard work and life of a nurse. The rewards and pain of caring for patients.
Great read. Love the characters, and the description of the hard work and life of a nurse. The rewards and pain of caring for patients.
April 10, 2025
Interesting to understand the strick protocols in hospitals in the 60's. A good read
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews