This one was a little dull and too preachy and seemed to be missing a lot of the details that give a story heart. This book follows one woman's life story from her teenage years through her old age as she transformed from a spoiled rich girl to the wife of a frontier doctor. I found Cassandra to be rather annoying as a married woman who wouldn't tell her oblivious husband how she was feeling and wouldn't decide to make the best of the adventure of learning to live without servants and modern conveniences. I also found it strange that absolutely nobody, especially her mother, ever tried to prepare her for what she was getting into by moving West. Her mother even started a conversation once, asking if she really wanted to marry the young doctor and move out to the frontier. But then she let the conversation drop as soon as Cassandra said she loved him and would follow him as a submissive wife should. What mother wouldn't discuss the details of what it would be like and what she would be giving up and what she would need to do to survive? The parents came off as very ambivalent towards their daughters' future.There was also a lot of buildup about the hardships she would face or was facing but I thought there should have been more actual hardship. Not having operas or plays is not true hardship. The rain ruining your hat is not a hardship. Wouldn't a young, frontier doctor have struggled with paying his bills during the years he was first starting his practice? Where were the droughts or severe winters and bad illnesses? Where were the nefarious characters? What I liked about so many of the Women of the West books was the description of the financial difficulties and all the hard work the women had to do just to scrape a living and keep food on the table and deal with dangerous men. The only hard work in this book seemed to be child-rearing and housekeeping until she started to help her husband with his medical duties and the book didn't give very many details of that. This story had every opportunity to include adventure, conflict, and humor but instead was just boring and preachy and disappointing.
"They Called Her Mrs. Doc" is a Christian historical set in the Canadian West during the pioneer time period. It's a part of the Women of the West series, but the books aren't connected to each other so you can read them in any order. These novels are quick reads. The setting and historical detail created a nice yet still somewhat vague (as to exact time period) backdrop for the events. The story followed Cassandra's life from seventeen-years-old until she's very old, so we get more of an overview of her life than a good look at her during one period of her life. Her early struggle was to adjust to living in an "uncivilized" town where she didn't know anyone or fit in. Then she had to learn to sometimes help her husband and the townspeople (when her husband wasn't available) medically despite the fact she gets nauseous at the sight of blood. The Christian element was woven in as a natural part of the story, and it wasn't a big part of the story. Cassandra realizes that she knows about God but doesn't know God on a personal basis, so she decides to change that and then let Him change her attitude about her circumstances. Married sex was implied (as babies were born). There was a very minor amount of "he cussed" style of bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this enjoyable novel.
What do You think about They Called Her Mrs. Doc (1992)?
Pretty bare. There weren't very many details after the beginning, more like an annals entry. There wasn't much focus on any of the interesting points of the book: going west, having five children, learning how to effectively be a doctor. I'll take Mrs. Mike any day.
—Magda
