• An Irish Country Doctor

  • A Novel
  • By: Patrick Taylor
  • Narrated by: John Keating
  • Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (3,335 ratings)

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An Irish Country Doctor  By  cover art

An Irish Country Doctor

By: Patrick Taylor
Narrated by: John Keating
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Publisher's summary

An Irish Country Doctor from bestselling author Patick Taylor is a charming and engrossing tale that will captivate listeners from the very first word—and leave them yearning to visit the Irish countryside of days gone by.

Barry Laverty, M.B., can barely find the village of Ballybucklebo on a map when he first sets out to seek gainful employment there, but already he knows that there is nowhere he would rather live than in the emerald hills and dales of Northern Ireland. The proud owner of a spanking-new medical degree and little else in the way of worldly possessions, Barry jumps at the chance to secure a position as an assistant in a small rural practice.

At least until he meets Dr. Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly.

The older physician, whose motto is to never let the patients get the upper hand, has his own way of doing things. At first, Barry can't decide if the pugnacious O'Reilly is the biggest charlatan he has ever met, or the best teacher he could ever hope for. Through O'Reilly Barry soon gets to know all of the village's colorful and endearing residents, including:

A malingering Major and his equally hypochondriacal wife;

An unwed servant girl, who refuses to divulge the father of her upcoming baby;

A slightly daft old couple unable to marry for lack of a roof;

And a host of other eccentric characters who make every day an education for the inexperienced young doctor.

Ballybucklebo is long way from Belfast, and Barry is quick to discover that he still has a lot to learn about the quirks and traditions of country life. But with pluck and compassion and only the slightest touch of blarney, he will find out more about life—and love—than he ever imagined back in medical school.

©2004, 2007 Patrick Taylor (P)2009 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“Narrator John Keating has a field day with the humor, long-winded stories, and colorful accents...[Keating] skillfully presents the unique and sometimes-hilarious Irish take on joy, sorrow, illness, and death.” —AudioFile

“Welcome to the colorful Northern Ireland community of Ballybucklebo where there's always something brewing beneath the Village's deceptively sleepy surface. Fans of Karon's Mitford series will enjoy this.” —Smoky Mountain Sentinel

What listeners say about An Irish Country Doctor

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Couldn’t stop listening!

Loved the story, the accents, the idioms, the characters. It was a pleasant story that made you smile and wish for life to be that sweet.

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Fantastic narration

Really enjoyed this story and have downloaded the next book. Such easy listening ... the narration was wonderful. Most enjoyable in every way.

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This was an awesome listen!

LOved the narrator and the story. I will definitely listen to more by Patrick Taylor and John Keating. A pleasure!

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  • SV
  • 08-04-21

An enjoyable listen.

This book is charming and funny. the dynamics between the two doctors is entertaining.

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cute book

This was a cute book, seems to be in the vein of All Creatures Great and Small. Easy to listen to.

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Very Good

A flavor of all creatures great and small with the quaint Irish town and instead of veterinarians human doctors and their quirky patients.. Excellently crafted story

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LOVED IT!

I have found my next favorite author. As good if not better than James Herriot.

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love it

this brought back grand memories of my visit to Ireland in the early 80's. the directions given in the beginning was spot on to what we received; I was laughing.
The entire story gave me burst of laughter throughout.

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Immerse yourself in the little village

Great story with characters you will become fond of. You will feed part of the community.

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Something's Missing ... But It's Not the "F Bomb"!

If you loved the James Herriot series that began with "All Creatures Great and Small," it will be next-to-impossible not to recognize the similarities in this first of the "An Irish Country Doctor" series. Young doctor with a newly minted degree travels to the wilds of Ireland to work for the irascible local country doctor that the community loves...and meets, perhaps, the love of his life. You may also feel ripples of "Ballykissangel" if you are/were a fan of that BBC series. While this is an enjoyable book, and John Keating does a great job with the narration, this novel fell short of "All Creatures..." and "Ballykissangel" for me. It has charm, but lacks the warmth.

This book should come with a warning. If you are traveling with children, you may want to choose another story. The "F bomb" is dropped regularly throughout the story, and in some places very liberally.

All of that being said, I'll buy the next in the series to see if Mr. Taylor warms up to his characters.

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79 people found this helpful