“Josephine Elder”, in real life Dr Olive Potter, a GP in Surrey, here writes about what she truly knows  - the experiences of a woman doctor in the 1930s.

    Marion Blake is a young doctor with a growing practice, living with her pathologist friend, Philippa.  She is totally and happily absorbed in her work – of which we are given fascinating descriptions – until she meets and marries Paul Shepherd, a university lecturer and aspiring playwright.
    Inevitably conflicts arise as Paul, with his ‘little boy smile’ of the indulged only son, wants “to love you and work for you and have you for myself alone,” but Marion, calm and competent, steadfastly self-reliant, “can’t give the practice up.  It’s my child, I made it!” and “Dr Blake” has to take precedence over “Paul’s wife”.

    The introduction includes the text of a talk Dr. Potter gave to the Women’s Institute on her early medical training at Girton and the London Hospital in Whitechapel.