Autobiography
Find this ebook at your favourite retailer below:
Is there a doctor who wouldn’t want to work on a cruise ship sailing to Rio?
Ruth sets off on the voyage of a lifetime with her husband, Tom, yearning for a blissful break away from fifteen years as a hectic GP in the East End of London.
Within days an epidemic of Norovirus takes over the ship. Strict sanitary measures are implemented.
Passengers are quarantined. The mood on board changes.
As the sole doctor Ruth works alongside two nurses one of whom is an alcoholic. Tensions in the Medical Centre mount.
Medical cases include life-threatening emergencies. A GP surgery it is not.
At the doctor’s table apparently colourless passengers reveal surprises as the trip unfolds.
By day Ruth struggles with the masculine hierarchy while evenings bring romantic escapism for Tom and Ruth.
Ruth’s unease grows as she realises that the ship retraces the Atlantic slave trade ports.
Her family story as Ten Pound Poms emigrating to Australia in 1949 and their subsequent four Atlantic crossings ignites her lifelong attachment to the sea.
But will this be Ruth’s last voyage?
Here's what readers have to say about this book....
This memoir by an East London GP recounts a 21-day cruise on a ship sailing from Southampton to Rio, when she accepted the lonely role of ship’s doctor for 1300 passengers and crew. It is a delicious mix of the hilarious- augmented by the cartoons of David Parkins, who individualises every character in the established hierarchy of the ship’s company, and the tragic stories brought to the clinic. We meet the poverty of some of the crew; the misfortunes of each of her patients; the addiction of her nursing colleague, the bureaucracy and all set against the backdrop of a rule-bound, and highly structured existence for crew and passengers. Doctor Ruth meets each challenge with skill and compassion- life-saving interventions for some- with patience and care. But she still has the energy to boogie away with her husband Tom at night on the ball room floor, as well as visiting the Atlantic resorts before Rio. So much of her adventure comes from the uncertain and the unknown. An outbreak of Norovirus places the entire company at risk and Dr Ruth learns the ropes about engaging ports and other help. Only at the end of the cruise does she discover a second doctor on board who ‘forgot’ to announce his presence on the journey. Dr Patricia D'Ardenne, Consultant Psychologist, London
Ruth pulls no punches about her hectic time as doctor on a cruise. Her vivid and amusing portrayal of those in need of succour makes compelling reading with light relief in exotic ports of call or dancing, or should that be rolling, to the beat of the ship! A good read! Wendy Hughes, Bath
