Bedpans and Bobby Socks

From the people who brought you the bestselling Confessions of a GP. From stampeding nudes to inebriated teenagers, young nurse Michael Alexander never really knew what he was getting himself into.

Hurry Up Nurse is a nurse memoir that follows the ups and downs of a trainee nurse in the 1970s. Written with humor and candor, it follows the experiences of the author as she and her friends come to terms with the non-stop hustle and bustle of hospital life. This book treats the reader to a peep behind the scenes as we enter the hospital wards. The author shares the discipline, laughter and inevitable sadness as she learns to cope with the strains of shift work.

In Jennifer Craig's enchanting memoir, we meet these warm-hearted yet naïve young girls as they get to grips with strict discipline, long hours and bodily fluids. But we also see the camaraderie that develops in evening study sessions, sneaked trips to the cinema and mischievous escapades with the young trainee doctors. The harsh conditions prove too much for some girls, but the opportunity to help her patients in their time of need is too much of a pull for Jenny.

To a young girl, the life of a student nurse sounds exciting, but with long hours and short shrift it's never easy. So when Maggie Groff embarks as a student nurse at London's King's College Hospital, she must quickly get to grips with the demands of her chosen career. It's sink or swim. In a delightful romp through time, played out against the march of feminism and the fashion, music and movies of almost half a century ago, we follow Maggie's highs and lows as, with trial and much error, she becomes a highly skilled nurse and sets sail for a new life in Australia.

Gwenda and Douglas Brady were among the millions of British children sent to live with new families for their own safety during the Second World War, leaving behind their parents, their friends and all that felt familiar and safe. Evacuation could be a scary experience, but five-year-old Gwenda and her brother were lucky enough to be housed with a kindly schoolmaster and his wife, and soon the realities of the war felt very far away.