An Irish Doctor in Love and at Sea

An Irish Country Novel

By: Patrick Taylor

Narrated by: John Keating

Length: 18 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

Doctor O'Reilly experiences both love and loss during World War II in this new novel in Patrick Taylor's beloved Irish Country series.

Long before Dr. Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly came to the colourful Irish village of Ballybucklebo, young Surgeon-Lieutenant O'Reilly answered the call of duty to serve in World War II. Fingal just wants to marry his beloved Deirdre and live happily ever after. First, he must hone his skills at a British naval hospital before reporting back to the HMS Warspite, where, as a ship's doctor, he faces danger upon the high seas. With German bombers a constant threat, the future has never been more uncertain, but Fingal and Deirdre are determined to make a life together...no matter what may lie ahead.

Decades later the war is long over, and O'Reilly is content to mend the bodies and souls of his patients in Ballybucklebo, but there are still changes and challenges aplenty. A difficult pregnancy as well as an old colleague badly in denial concerning his own serious medical condition test O'Reilly and his young partner, Barry Laverty. But even with all that occupies him in the present, can O'Reilly ever truly let go of the ghosts from his past?

Shifting effortlessly between two singular eras, best-selling author Patrick Taylor continues the story of O'Reilly's wartime experiences while vividly bringing the daily joys and struggles of Ballybucklebo to life once more.

©2015 Ballybucklebo Stories Corp. (P)2015 Macmillan Audio

love this series and the narrator

i love this series and the narrator. I strongly recommended it to anyone. very well written and very well preformed

Loved it, loved it ,loved it!

Great story, the characters are wonderful. I hate to see i this book come to an end!

Another Enjoyable Book

Patrick Taylor and John Keating together provide another enjoyable installment in the series. Highly recommended.

Engaging

This book like the prior one in the series “An Irish Doctor in Peace and War” is full of flashback memories of World War II. In the prior book O’Reilly was entering anesthesiology training at the Royal Naval Hospital Hasler in Portsmouth. Deirdre meets O’Reilly in Portsmouth to get married. This book picks up as O’Reilly enters training.

In the current time, 1964, O’Reilly attends a medical school reunion and a former classmate is ill. Back in Ballybucklebo Barry is depressed because his fiancée, Sue, has bet a charming Frenchman while on teaching exchange.

The book is well written and is a “feel good” book. The story tells about life in a rural Northern Ireland village in the 1960s. The book is full of gentle humor and emotional stories taking place in the beautiful rural village. In the flashbacks Taylor tells of what life was like during World War II. I still enjoy the housekeeper/cook Kinky and her delightful cork accent and humor.

I have read the majority of books in this series as audiobooks. With all the various accents and Irish words, it is great to have a fantastic narrator, John Keating, able to performs them perfectly. Keating is an Irish actor and audiobook narrator. The book is just over eighteen and a half hours long.

Such a heartbreaking story

I love that Deirdre and Fingle’s story are told but it is heartbreaking. It is plain to see that she was the love of his life and I understand why he would not want to get married again. I wish the story could have been different and they could have been together all the way through the books. But it was very well written.and of course John Keating was wonderful as usual.

Good story

This entire series is great! I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it and would highly recommend it, especially if you’re Irish.

Perfect as always !

Patrick always captures your heart and draws you in to this wonderful world of grace, dignity and warmth that makes you wish that life could truly imitate art.

John Keating's remarkable narration leaves me astonished ! How in the world does he do it ??? I am mesmerized.

one of the best stories yet

Every once in a while I need a break from a series and wonder if I will ever make it back. I was so glad to come back to this book. Exciting new developments in the past and present. if you were on pause like I was, come back to the series for this one!

I loved this chapter in the series!

The reader is excellent. I love the variety of voices he uses—especially the Fingle and Donal characters. The story is so well written that even the battle aspects are interesting to me (I get so bored with this type of thing usually). Can’t wait for the next book.

Love and WAR

I really love Taylor's books, but this one was hard to trudge trough. If you follow the series, which I hope you do by this point, you know what happens during the war, but you wait for that inevitable ending. The wartime stories are not necessarily a huge downer, but the tone of this book is darker than the rest. I'd still recommend the series, but I was glad to get through this one.