Dr. Patrick Taylor has written more than a dozen novels on every aspect of his beloved village of Ballybucklebo in Northern Ireland. They introduce us to a family doctor, whose practice has grown by leaps and bounds to include a trusted partner and, in this book, a new trainee.Dr. Taylor was born and raised in Bangor, County Down, in Northern Ireland and is a distinguished medical researcher himself. He is quite familiar with all the medical problems he describes in his mythical Ballybucklebo. The doctors see their patients through difficult challenges, including a housewife whose frequent “accidents” may have a disturbing cause in her own household.
There is also plenty of fun and merriment, from a visiting circus to racing and sailing. Critics consider Taylor probably the most popular Irish-Canadian writer of all time. He is the father of two grown children, and presently living on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia.
Reviewed by Anne McDougall