Hurry up Nurse! is a charming memoir by Dawn Brookes covering her early life, school years and various short term jobs before she took the plunge and enrolled as a student nurse. Told in a clear, uncomplicated narrative style, Dawn takes us through her student days and introduces us to the many characters she encountered during her training in the early seventies, and onward to her final qualification and move to London. She describes with great skill her assignments to orthopedic, medical and scary psychiatric wards, the constant rush to keep up with the heavy workload, the distressing encounters with broken or terminally ill patients, but also the the good times and sometimes the funny side of the job. But perhaps what comes across best from this endearing book is the pride she obviously takes in being employed in a caring profession and the joy of her daily work, in spite of the long hours alternating between early, late and night shifts, the low pay and often feeling almost dead on her feet. It is somewhat humbling to realise that such selfless individuals fill the ranks of the medical profession.

Hurry up Nurse! is a great addition to a popular genre. Dawn Brookes seems to have picked up where Jennifer Worth (Call the Midwife etc.) left off with her experiences of nursing in the fifties and sixties, and one would hope she achieves similar popular success. I am a little older than Dawn Brookes, but grew up in England during the same period and circumstances so found her memoir delightfully evocative. She is an accomplished storyteller - her style of writing is relaxed and easy on the senses and I am hopeful that she will follow up this book with further reminiscences. Hurry up Nurse! is a pleasant, informative read and I do not hesitate to recommend it.

Hurry Up Nurse by Dawn Brookes is a delightfully entertaining and informative book. I feel as if I know Dawn. I feel as if I know the essence of what it is to live the life of a professional nurse. Nursing is a profession I thought about trying when I was younger, simply because it pays well, you help others, and it’s always in demand, wherever you might choose to go. I did not choose to go that route, but after reading Dawn’s memoir I feel I know what it would have been like. I feel I know what I missed. I liked Hurry Up Nurse! I liked it very much. Even better, I like Dawn. I like her beginning, I like her journey. I like the person and professional she has become. She is the kind of person that it would be fun to exchange anecdotes with over a pleasant meal. I hope I get to meet her one day. I hope any time I need a nurse, that nurse is as compassionate and professional as Dawn Brookes.

What I like most about Hurry Up Nurse is the way Dawn wrote it. Her tone is perfect for the book. It’s perfect for her life. I guess I thought I would be reading a book about nursing, but this is the story of an extraordinary woman’s life. To be fair though, this story would not be such a satisfying read if the writer did not love her job, and was not satisfied with her life. Rich in detail, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, Hurry Up Nurse is always real and warm. If you are a young person contemplating going into this field, this is a must-read. But anyone who enjoys reading realistic life stories should pick it up just for fun. You will meet a great person.

Hurry Up Nurse: Memoirs of Nurse Training in the 1970's by Dawn Brookes is an engaging memoir, a collection of anecdotes based on the author’s experiences of nurse training during the 1970s and early 1980s. The book captures the life of the nurses in the NHS hospital wards where they were always in demand and hurrying from one patient to another. The author manages to recreate the events, localities, and conversations from memory, providing readers with a good insight into hospital life at the time. She also makes mention of the turbulent years of growing up while coming to terms with the discipline of nurse training and the shift work that is required as part of the training and working as a nurse.

The book captures many important as well as interesting moments in the author’s life. It is a must-read for all those who want to become nurses, who are already nurses, and who were nurses as there is a lot they would like to know and relate to. The author’s nostalgia is tangible as she shares the personal moments of her life - some happy, some sad - with readers. The author is honest, straightforward, and direct as she speaks about her time as a nurse. Her fluidity of expression as she narrates the stories makes the memoir a good read and makes it fast paced. The author’s journey, her way with words, and her sense of humor make this memoir an entertaining one. The author has handled the topic in such a manner that readers will find the memoir interesting.