Why Join?

  • Add New Books

  • Write a Review

  • Backpack Reading Lists

  • Monthly Newsletter

Join Now

An Ocean Apart

An Ocean Apart

Author(s): Sarah Lee

Location(s): Caribbean, Hertfordshire, London

Genre(s): Historical, Fiction

Era(s): 19502

Location

Content

It’s 1954 and, in Barbados, Ruby Haynes spots an advertisement for young women to train as nurses for the new National Health Service in Great Britain. Her sister, Connie, takes some persuading, but soon the sisters are on their way to a new country – and a whole new world of experiences.

As they start their training in Hertfordshire, they discover England isn’t quite the promised land; for every door that’s opened to them, the sisters find many slammed in their faces. And though the girls find friendships with their fellow nurses, Connie struggles with being so far from home, and keeping secret the daughter she has left behind in search of a better life for the both of them . . .

Inspired by real life stories of the Windrush Generation and her mother’s own experiences as a nurse coming to Britain from the Caribbean, Sarah Lee’s debut novel An Ocean Apart is a must for fans of Call the Midwife.

Review this Book

To review this book, please

Log in

Book Reviews

Lead Review

Author: Tina Hartas

We meet sisters Connie and Ruby on the Sorrento, a ship transporting them from Barbados to England, where they are contracted to train as nurses at St Mary’s in Hertfordshire. They soon meet Billie,...

Read review