The Heart of a Hospital - Anne Vinton

As it turns out, it's nearly Valentine's Day, and by coincidence I have an appropriate trashy romance to review. This being a hospital-themed one was particularly amusing, as I've just started a new job up on the wards myself.

The beautiful, young, intelligent, serene, womanly, etc. Sister Eve Ramsey (in spite of her incredibly craggy illustration on the cover) is delighted to have just become secretly engaged to an almost-qualified young doctor. She loves her job, and in fact "always felt a heart-warming sensation as she opened the ward doors for the first time each day. It was as though she loved every patient there, and they in return watched for her appearance and sent out the warmth of their loving gratitude to her." The NHS has certainly changed in 65 years.

Eve's unruly and selfish half-sister arrives to work in her hospital, and a new patient, handsome, well-known (and heir to a baronetcy, naturally) also arrives. The plot unfolds with inevitable predictability and implausibility, our heroine is described as a ministering angel by almost anyone who knows her (and the others are of course just jealous), and her womanly compassion and patience win her romance and wealth and titles and all of the other things women could ever want.

Highly amusing and with several inadvertent laugh-out-loud moments. If you're ironically into vintage trashy romances (I hope it's not just me!) this is well worth a read.


Next up: A Corpse at St Andrew's Chapel by Mel Starr

Dead Men Do Tell Tales - William R Maples

I don't normally go for autobiographies, but Maples' candid and informed style makes this one very readable. It's also something of a casebook on forensic anthropology - as well as the development of Maples' professional life, the reader is told about the beginning and progress of the field.

Many of the chapters are case studies on particularly intriguing historical examinations such as the Romanov massacre, the Spanish conqueror of Peru, and the elephant man, among other more modern cases, and there are photographs of some examples included. Many people might think of this as a bit macabre, but there's no pleasure taken in gory descriptions, more an academic analysis of the remains.

It sounds like a fascinating field of study, and while I don't think I'd have the stomach to actually go into it myself, it's something I hadn't realised played such a vital part in the identification of remains and the bringing to justice of the murderer. This is an informative and fascinating look at forensic anthropology, through the eyes of a talented and intelligent man. Well worth reading if you have any interest in archaology, forensics, etc!


Next up: The Heart of a Hospital by Anne Vinton

A little accidental book shopping

On my way to do a sensible food, washing up liquid etc. shop this afternoon I gave into temptation and went into the two (two! next door to each other) charity shops that I have to pass to get into town. The result is as follows:

The Heart of a Hospital, by Anne Vinton. A vintage Mills & Boon - looks hilarious.
The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini.
As Meat Loves Salt, by Maria McCann.
The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, by Stieg Larsson. I read the first novel last year, and have been meaning to get hold of these for a while. I only ever came across the third novel until today.

Now to try and find space to fit these into my extended literary family...