A Nurse in Time: My Life as a Trainee Nurse in the 1930s

"It must be stressed from the start that I was not a born nurse. Not every girl is. Not every nurse is either, however wholeheartedly she may throw herself into the project once she gets going. Born nurses can be easily recognised. They have a little something the others haven't got which never seems to desert them however desperate the circumstances may become" Desperate circumstances were something Evelyn Prentis had to get very used to when she began her life as a nurse. It was in 1934 that Evelyn left home for the first time to enroll as a trainee at a busy Nottingham hospital in the hope of £25 a year. A Nurse in Time is her affectionate and funny account of those days of dedication and hardship, when never–ending nightshifts, strict nuns, and permanent hunger ruled life, and joy was to be found in a late–night pass and a packet of Woodbine cigarettes.