Before embarking on an incredible career in nursing, Scotland's remote Shetland Isles were home for Mona McAlpine.
This third instalment of Mona's memoir begins with her childhood, spent in the district of Whiteness. She writes about her early training in Elgin and Stirling; the great contrasts of working in 1960s Chiswick, West London, and Glasgow's Gorbals; and thereafter her experiences as a nurse and midwife in Shetland, Fair Isle, Edinburgh and South Africa.
Intertwined with her fascinating professional experiences are Mona's personal stories - those of growing up in the 1940s and 1950s, of her family's history, of her beloved husband and children, and of her tremendous charity work. All of these are told with great warmth and charm, evoking a feeling of nostalgia for times past.
For regardless of where her extraordinary life and career have taken her, Mona McAlpine will always be a Shetland girl at heart. |
