What’s a poor orphaned girl, raised from birth by her grandmother in a country home and then by a guardian named Doctor Leslie, to do? Nan Prince dearly wants to be a doctor and although that’s not likely in 1885 or so, she doesn’t seem to know it. The good Doctor Leslie has always encouraged her, she did well in school, she made a commitment and she found a college.
The twist is that our heroine’s deceased father’s sister enters the picture and Miss Prince has her own ideas of what young ladies ought to set their caps on. George Gerry seems ideal – at least to Miss Prince.
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A Country Doctor
by Sarah Orne Jewett
1884 / 304 pages
read by Kate Reading 7h 58m
rating: 8 / US classic
(read and listened)
*finished 5/28 or so)
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There’s more to this book than that – Jewett is a fascinating author and there are several chapters specifically related to feminist and Christian issues – Chapter 9 needs a reread as does Chapter 13.
Among the themes Jewett touches on are the role of women in society as well as how a woman can achieve both family and career if they are so called. “… all people, regardless of sex, receive individual vocational calls”
