BARLEYBRIDGE
5 total works
Kate arrives at Barleybridge Veterinary Practice on her first day as the new receptionist. The hills rise almost immediately from the edge of the car park, dotted all over the slopes are sheep grazing. Turning round she can see the town which has now crept up the foothills making the practice the last bit of civilisation before the hills. The setting is idyllic. Kate quickly gets to know the other staff and becomes engrossed in the work and drawn into their lives and those of the animals and their owners. She knows to have a bucket of water at the ready when Adolf the Rottweiller has an appointment and to have soap and spare clothes waiting when her boss Scott is called out to the Parsons's filthy farm. But Kate has a big decision to make. Should she give up her faithful boyfriend Adam and train as a vet or should she be content to work in the practice as a receptionist? She confides in Scott because, although he is a bit of a womaniser, it is obvious that he is completely devoted to the animals and his work. Tender, funny and full of the warmth that has made the Turnham Malpas novels into bestsellers, this first Barleybridge novel is a sure winner.
The lively Barleybridge Veterinary Hospital is bustling with energy. All the vets and lay staff are working hard to make sure that disruptive and sick animals in the surgery and on the farms are treated. At the same time some of them are coping with crises in their personal lives. Kate is worrying about her A level results and hoping she will get into Veterinary College. Dan's wife's baby is due at any moment. Letty is worried that she may be terminally ill but is afraid to tell anyone. Joy finds that she is still in love with Mungo, a fact that finally compells her husband Duncan to leave home. Rhodri is deeply in love with Megan, a local farmer's daughter, but she can't marry him because she is committed to caring for her elderly father. A wonderfully pacy, funny but tender novel about life in the country.
When Kate Howard was working as receptionist at the Barleybridge Practice, she had thought herself in love with Scott, the Australian vet. But that was years ago and she is over him now - or so she thinks. Kate finds herself back at the Practice in order to gain work experience as a junior vet. When she meets Scott again, she is alarmed to discover that the passion she once felt for him has not waned - she is suddenly, yet again, completely besotted with him. One of the changes Kate finds when she returns is the appointment of a new vet, Virginia Havelock, who causes trouble with her cock-sure mannerisms and her total lack of charm. She upsets Kate by constantly criticizing her and is the cause of a tragedy involving an important client. But all is not as it seems - Kate soon discovers that there is a reason for Virginia's sharp manner. Scott, very much in love with his wife Zoe, hates the idea that they have not yet had a second child. Convinced that the fault is not his, he refuses to seek help. The ensuing rows with Zoe drives a wedge between them. Will he look to someone else for comfort? Kate hopes that he might...Rebecca Shaw handles the everyday drama of the Barleybridge Practice with compassion and humour.
Her readers will be enchanted by this story that takes place over the course of one hot country summer.
Her readers will be enchanted by this story that takes place over the course of one hot country summer.
It is a shock to the staff at the Barleybridge Animal Hospital when Dan, one of the farm vets, is seriously injured in a car accident. It is even more of a shock when Scott Spencer, back from Australia, steps in to cover for him. Joy, the Practice Manager, remembers the hearts he broke when he last worked there and also his abrupt departure. She refuses to agree to this appointment, however temporary it turns out to be, and leaves immediately. Scott slips seamlessly into the Practice routine, not guessing what secrets are about to be revealed which will turn his life upside down and amend his callous attitude to women. Once again the animals and their owners are as much a part of the story as are the members of the Practice. We meet Petunia and Zinnia, two dairy cows; Francesca Goodwood and her herd of organically reared pigs; Chang, the feisty pedigree dog who gets into a brawl with Goliath, the tiny Yorkshire Terrier. COUNTRY PASSIONS is the fourth book in the highly successful Barleybridge series.It is a wonderfully pacey and tender novel in which Rebecca Shaw weaves her magic around the animals and the people in this busy veterinary hospital, bringing them to life and sharing with us their troubles and triumphs.
The happy atmosphere in the Barleybridge Veterinary Hospital is disrupted with the arrival of Dan, the new vet. Luckily he is just the locum until a new appointment is made but his locum status does not prevent him from speaking his mind, making unreasonable demands and generally upsetting the calm running of the practice. When, in his first week, he succeeds in losing a most important client by his arrogant behaviour, the wives connected to the practice vow to do everything they can to stop him becoming a permanent member of the team. But Kate finds she likes his approach to life. When her father dies unexpectedly, the mother she has never met appears to claim her. Torn between love for her stepmother Mia and a need to know her own mother, Kate has a traumatic time. Dan, with a sad secret of his own, helps her come to terms with her new situation and introduces her to the real work of a vet - working with sick and troubled animals. There's Sunny Boy the bull, Copperfield, a cruelty case cat, Perkins the Airedale, Galaxy, a superb horse and Cadbury the Labrador.
Tender, funny and full of the warmth that has made Rebecca Shaw's Turnham Malpas novels into bestsellers, Country Wives, the second in the Barleybridge series, is another winner.
Tender, funny and full of the warmth that has made Rebecca Shaw's Turnham Malpas novels into bestsellers, Country Wives, the second in the Barleybridge series, is another winner.