One String For Nurse Bow

by Joyce Dingwell

The twelve young graduate nurses were waiting eagerly to hear what glamorous jobs were to be allotted to them under the Farflung Nursing Association of the Pacific Health Organisation. Would it be specialling a Rajay in Hyderabad, nursing on some dreamy coral island in the South Seas, being the only woman among eighty men on a whaling island? None of them was more eager than Charlotte Bow - and to say that she was appalled to learn of the job in store for her was putting it mildly! Matron - nothing wrong with that! - but Matron at Binkabunkacarrawirra warrawillipillimundi, in the heart of the Australian Northern Territory! No hospital to speak of, nothing but aboriginals - and Brother SEb, she was told. Brother Seb? A monk, presumably, or a friar, or an abbot. But Charlotte arrived in Binka to find it even worse than she had imagined, and Brother Seb very far from being a friar.

Genres: Harlequin Romance

188 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1969

About the author

Enid Joyce Owen Dingwell, née Starr, was born on 1908 in Ryde, New South Wales, Australia. She wrote, as Joyce Dingwell and Kate Starr, 80 romance novels for Mills & Boon from 1931 to 1986. She was the first Australian writer living in Australia to be published by Mills & Boon. Her novel The House in the Timberwood (1959), was made into a motion picture, The Winds of Jarrah (1983). Her work was particularly notable for its use of the Australian land, culture, and people. She passed away on 2 August 1997 in Kincumber, New South Wales.

Reviews

[JR · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, one thing upfront about 'One String For Nurse Bow' - the references to the indigenous Australian population are very dated (the book was published in 1969). That said, author:Joyce Dingwell|170988] doesn't display the casual racism, in relation to non-Anglo Saxon characters, that's regrettably so often prevalent in vintage titles.

This story opens with graduate nurse, Charlotte Bow, who has signed up to the 'Far Flung Nursing Association', learning she's landed the dud assignment: acting as 'Matron' of a bush hospital in a place called Binkabunkacarrawirrawarrawillipillimundi (a name which seems more the length of a Welsh place name?!) In any case, 'Binka' is so remote that Charlotte must endure three trips in small planes across the Northern Territory before she touches down at an airstrip marked out (glamorously) with upturned white plastic buckets.

Taking in her surroundings, the heroine experiences waves of trepidation. Her worries aren't alleviated either when she sets eyes on 'Brother Sebastepol' who has requested the presence of a nurse at Binka. Described as a 'leather-dark, mallee-gnarled individual, the heroine mistakenly believes Seb to be a friar because of his nickname. When he shows her to her new hospital, Charlotte can barely conceal her shock at the 'low, second-hand iron building' with windows that are curtained, but not glazed. The edifice is hardly well equipped either, housing only five iron bed-steads, a table and a chair - although there are numerous seating benches (provided for patients' relatives, Brother Seb tells her). It's not an auspicious start, and subsequently, when Charlotte learns the handsome flying doctor only visits on a Wednesday every six weeks and the attractive young male school teacher for a week every so often, leaving her stranded with Seb and whatever patients arrive for company, she really does come close to weeping.

I'm pretty certain Joyce Dingwell had a slightly zany sense of humour; she certainly gets good mileage from the young Matron's mistake about Seb being part of a religious order. Initially, the heroine is greatly puzzled as to why a friar would sleep in the room next door to hers and be casual enough to tap on the dividing wall to tell her "Sleep tight". She is beginning to doubt whether Seb is a friar, until he casually mentions that his [riding] 'habit' went missing. Charlotte feels reassured, deciding this accounts for Seb wearing breeches and a ten-gallon hat rather than clerical gear. It isn't until the end of Chapter Two that the heroine's misunderstanding is finally righted.

These types of small amusing diversions pepper the story and serve to keep it bouncing lightly along. In one such other instance, Charlotte encounters a snake on the loo seat - which is why, Brother Seb, explains to her, he's so terribly keen, when finances allow, to replace the outdoor privy with a 'modern' indoor pull-chain lavatory. The tale definitely has the feel of an Australian yarn and, compared to most other M&B novels published around this time, its tone is refreshingly cheery; the plot-line being happily bereft of 'punishing kisses' or bouts of tiresomely tortured soul searching. The dynamic too, between the protagonists, is established early and, despite all the plot twists a patient giving birth to quadruplets, the radio shed going up in flames, an outbreak of typhoid, Seb being gauged by a bull remains the central thread through the novel.

What I also found appealing about this book, is that the hero is in many respects the antithesis of the typical M&B male protagonist; his skin is leathery, his hair 'hedgehogey', he's too tall and broad to be comfortable, he insists on filling conversational gaps with discussions about the necessity of a 'pull-chain' toilet and has absolutely no notion of how to 'court' the heroine. Even when Charlotte and Seb do reach their 'happy ever after' the author doesn't couch it in a manner associated with high romance, e.g.;
'And in his arms, those big blunderbuss arms, Charlotte mused about her reasons for keeping him waiting...For love was what she had for him, had had all the time and not known it. Strings for her bow, she had thought, but there had been only one string: Brother Seb. Sebastapol Brown.'

In summary, 'One String For Nurse Bow' is quite a unique story - in fact it rather defies description so far as this genre goes - I'm rating it three-and-three-quarter stars. I'd recommend getting your hands on a copy, if no other reason than the novelty factor, after all, how often really do you find a M&B hero who fixates on lavatory mechanics...

[DocNora · Rating 4 out of 5]

None of its old fashioned content detracts from it's gentle charm.

[Bea Tea · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sometimes a book can be shamefully excused for being a product of it's time, and sometimes a book is just staggeringly racist. This is the latter. But there is more, it's also painfully sexist.

[Last Chance Saloon · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a zany romance! It's not perfect, but it's so bizarre, so sweet and both the heroine and hero are admirable characters. She's (22) capable, down to earth, kind and pretty. He's in his thirties, huge, kind, resilient, innocent, inexperienced with women and crazy about her in his funny way. There are lots of potential OM despite being in the middle of nowhere and interactions with other crazy characters. If anything, I would have liked more hero time. He's so darn cute.
In typical Joyce Dingwell trope, there are disasters to overcome, but it's a really HEA.