by Brenna J. Corbit, Technical Services Librarian
Yes, I know St. Patrick’s Day is over, and, yes, I know some people like me celebrate Irish heritage the whole month, and some, even more like me, keep that green flame burning year round. Moreover, March 30th was National Physicians Day. So, “what in the name of the wee man” does all this have to do with anything? Why, I am talking about one of my favorite novel series An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor.
The series begins in 1960s Northern Ireland in the fictional village of Ballybucklebo. Here we meet Dr. Barry Laverty fresh from med-school as he begins his medical career as an assistant in a small rural practice with veteran GP Dr. Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly, an eccentric, boisterous, and all-together loveable character, who not only sees to the medical needs of his community, but is pulled into one crazy adventure after another as he helps the unforgettable villagers solve one problem after another. It seems the whole village is held together by him, but one other major character is Mrs. Kinky Kincaid, the rural practice’s housekeeper and cook, who is an underlying force in her own right. The novels are filled with her delicious Irish cooking and the upper hand she often has over Dr. O’Reilly’s ever-expanding waistline.
As the series progresses, we get to know more about other characters, more than this review can cover, but would be well worth mentioning. Currently, I am up to number six, A Dublin Student Doctor, wherein we learn of Dr. O’Reilly’s younger years as a student doctor in the 1930s.
Oh yes, I forgot to mention another doctor, Dr. Patrick Taylor himself, the author of this crazy rambling series. Born in 1941 and raised in Bangor, Northern Ireland, Taylor practiced medicine in Belfast and rural Ulster before immigrating to Canada in the 1970s to pursue research in human infertility. He lives there to this day still adding other volumes to the continuing saga of The Irish Country Doctor.
What better way to celebrate doctors and other medical practitioners? So grab a pint and immerse yourself into another time when a GP’s worries were far out-dwarfed by today’s COVID-19 crisis.
The whole series is available on Hoopla as audiobooks and read by Irish actor John Keating, except for the fourth novel An Irish Country Girl, which is read by Irish actor Terry Donnelly. Both readers offer a fine interpretation of Taylor’s works and characters. Number 14, just published last year, is not yet available as an audiobook on Hoopla, but it is available on Amazon. Overdrive has only one e-book, An Irish Country Christmas. I have presented the entire list in order as I am always Googling it to see which novel is next.
1. An Irish Country Doctor, 2007
2. An Irish Country Village, 2008
3. An Irish Country Christmas, 2008
4. An Irish Country Girl, 2010
5. An Irish Country Courtship, 2010
6. A Dublin Student Doctor, 2011
7. An Irish Country Wedding, 2012
8. Fingal O'Reilly, Irish Doctor, 2013
9. An Irish Doctor in Peace and at War, 2014
10. An Irish Doctor in Love and at Sea, 2015
11. An Irish Country Love Story, 2016
12. An Irish Country Practice, 2017
13. An Irish Country Cottage, 2018
14. An Irish Country Family, 2019
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