Paula Xiberras
Meredith Appleyard hasn’t been to Tasmania- yet! However, she and a friend have talked about a mini book tour next year. Ever since she can recall Meredith has loved and wanted to write books and has taken part in sometime Tassie resident and author Fiona McIntosh’s writing master classes.
We are chatting about Meredith’s book ‘The Country Practice’ which draws from Meredith’s career in medicine as a nurse/midwife. Meredith lives in South Australia but has worked overseas in London and Vietnam and in the outback in a variety of situations including working for the Flying Doctors. Even with her medical career Meredith always wanted to write and after some time as a journalist embarked on a writing career where she was able to use her extensive experience in a rural environment. Her first novel ‘The Country Practice’ employs a realistic background in its telling of the story of a young medico fresh from London attempting to find her niche when she takes on a temporary position as the sole doctor in a rural practice at Maple Creek.
The novel sees Meghan land on her feet having to navigate a medical emergency even before officially beginning work, with little time to get settled.
The novel is peppered with interesting medical terms that may send you looking for a dictionary such as ‘Glasgow coma’..
Although the novel does contain the ingredient of romance it also addresses some important issues or as Meredith puts it the’ complexities’ of working in a country practice. Meredith explains that if a rural practice is without a GP it impacts on the town as lack of a doctor means they lose out in other developments as well.
Meredith also looks at the social life of GPs living in a small town where many of those you interact with socially may be your patients such as Meghan’s relationship with patient and local resident with a troubled past, Sean Ashby
With her protagonist leaving Maple Creek to explore some other small town possibilities at the end of the novel Meredith says her next book will focus on different characters with feedback seeing readers interest in the story of another popular couple in the book but we will still see Meghan Kimble walk through the pages in a cameo. Meredith says there will be further adventures at Maple Creek to look forward to.
‘The Country Practice’ by Meredith Appleyard is out now published by Penguin.
http://www.penguin.com.au/products/9780143799634/country-practice
