An Irish Country Doctor

A few weeks ago I saw a large print edition of Patrick Taylor's book, An Irish Country Doctor at the library. I brought it home and read it in a few hours - I love large print!

Lynne and Carrie read and reviewed this book and posted the reviews at Semicolon's Saturday Review of Books months ago. It sounded like a book that would transport me to another place and time that was reasonably pleasant, so I put it on my list of books to look for.

Patrick Taylor's characters are an amiable group and the story is similar to that of James Herriot's books, but with a young doctor, Barry Laverty, rather than a young veterinarian, and set in Ireland rather than Yorkshire. There's also an older, bachelor doctor, Dr. Reilly, who hires Dr. Laverty and makes him his partner, and an older woman who comes in and cooks for the doctors, and a young woman Dr. Laverty meets and thinks may be the one for him.

I loved Herriot's books and I loved this one, too. I bought the second in the series, An Irish Country Village and hope to start it soon. But I might end up saving it for a time when I need a sweet and funny and nice story to take me away.

One last thought I had was that this book also favorably reminded me of Arthur Jackson's books about an English doctor in a country practice: Tales from a Country Practice, More Tales from a Country Practice, and Further Tales from a Country Practice. I'd recommend them to anyone who enjoyed Patrick Taylor's book.