Not Your Average Nurse: From 1970s London to Outback Australia, the True Story of an Unlikely Girl and an Extraordinary Career

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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 defies her parents' wishes and 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 this 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 she struggles with stern ward sisters and wilful patients, and eventually qualifies as a registered nurse and sets sail for Australia. From nursing at a poor London housing estate and working as an in-house nurse at glamorous Selfridges to treating injuries on the Great Barrier Reef and becoming an industrial nurse at the iconic Sydney Opera House, Maggie shares her stories of mistakes and mayhem, tea and sympathy, and the life-affirming moments that made it all worthwhile.

Author Bio

Maggie Groff is an award-winning novelist, columnist and non-fiction writer living and working in Australia. As a young woman in England she trained as a state registered nurse at King's College Hospital, London, and worked at several London hospitals before securing a position as an in-house nurse at Selfridges. From there Maggie went on to pursue a richly varied and, at times, unusual nursing career. Aware that her daughter had no knowledge of her working life prior to becoming an author, she was inspired to write this memoir.