Doctor O'Reilly heeds the call to serve his country inAnIrish Doctor in Peace and At War, the new novel in Patrick Taylor's beloved Irish Country series
Long before Doctor Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly became a fixture in the colourful Irish village of Ballybucklebo, he was a young M.B. with plans to marry midwife Dierdre Mawhinney. Those plans were complicated by the outbreak of World War II and the call of duty. Assigned to the HMSWarspite, a formidable 30,000-ton battleship, Surgeon Lieutenant O'Reilly soon found himself face-to-face with the hardships of war, tending to the dreadnought's crew of 1,200 as well as to the many casualties brought aboard.
Life in Ballybuckebo is a far cry from the strife of war, but over two decades later O'Reilly and his younger colleagues still have plenty of challenges: an outbreak of German measles, the odd tropical disease, a hard-fought pie-baking contest, and a local man whose mule-headed adherence to tradition is standing in the way of his son's future. Now older and wiser, O'Reilly has prescriptions for whatever ails...until a secret from the past threatens to unravel his own peace of mind.
Shifting deftly between two very different eras, Patrick Taylor's latest Irish Country novel reveals more about O'Reilly's tumultuous past, even as Ballybucklebo faces the future in its own singular fashion.
This edition of the book is the deluxe, tall rack mass market paperback.

Patrick Taylor was born in 1941 in Bangor County Down, Northern Ireland. After medical and specialist training in Ulster, he emigrated to Canada in 1970 to pursue a career in academic medicine. He has held appointments at a number of universities and retired in 2001 to write and sail full-time. Now and in the Hour of Our Death is his fourth book of fiction. Taylor lives on Bowen Island, B.C., with his wife, Kate.

Patrick Taylor's profile page

Deeply steeped in Irish country life and meticulous in detail, the story is the perfect companion for a comfy fire and a cup of tea or a pint of bitter. A totally wonderful read! - Library Journal, starred review "What Herriot did for Yorkshire, Taylor now does for Northern Ireland's County Antrim and County Down, minus the animals, of course, but with all the good sentiments." - Kirkus Reviews on An Irish Country Wedding