6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Meet the nurses who survived starched skirts and Sister Gregory
C. A. Sadlowski's St. Trudy's School of Nursing pulls back the curtain on the real-life trials, triumphs and truly bizarre realities of student nurses in the 1960s, a time when the nursing profession was cloaked in starched uniforms, strict conduct codes and the looming authority of nun-run institutions.
Set in the fictional halls of St. Gertrude's Hospital School of Nursing, affectionately but forbiddenly nicknamed 'St. Trudy's,' Sadlowski's memoir-style novel tracks the bumpy, absurd and ultimately uplifting journey of Hope Sarnecki, a wide-eyed freshman from Cleveland with nothing but a scholarship and a shaky grasp on anatomy.
With a voice that's part dry wit, part wounded heart and all real, Hope leads readers through bed baths, rectal thermometer mishaps, explosive dehiscence wounds, pediatric heartbreaks and, yes, a 3.2-beer-fueled night at 'The Libido Lounge.' The cast of characters, from the quietly rebellious Aggie Vespey to the smirking, steel-haired Miss Burns, are as vivid as the chemical burns from cleaning agents in the charity ward.
'It's not 'Grey's Anatomy.' It's grayer, grittier and funnier,' says the author. 'This was a time when nursing students were expected to be nuns in disguise: celibate, cheerful and tough as nails. I had to tell this story with all the humor and heartbreak intact.'
Sadlowski doesn't shy away from tough subjects. The book captures the silent pain of racial inequality, the trauma of pediatric oncology and the emotional minefields of growing up female in a world that often expects obedience over opinion. But what stands out most is the camaraderie, the late-night whispering, the practical jokes and the group smoke breaks between breakdowns. 'St. Trudy's School of Nursing' is as much about friendship as it is about medicine.
Readers who loved 'Call the Midwife' or 'The Bell Jar' will find themselves laughing and crying in equal measure.
'St. Trudy's School of Nursing' is published by Callaghan Publications and is now available in paperback and e-book format. To request an interview with the author or a review copy, visit her website
or send her an email.
