26 May 2008.
ISBN: 978-0-7490-7995-6 (HB)
Dr Daniel Gregory is a GP in the fictional Staffordshire market town of Eccleston. Daniel is divorced and missing dreadfully his ten-year-old daughter Holly who lives with his ex-wife some distance away.
The story follows the daily routine of a doctor who cares about his patients, yet despite doing his best and through no real fault of his own, matters spiral dramatically out of his control.
Vanda Struel is a single parent who has a continually sickly child, for which despite numerous tests Daniel can find no medical cause. He refers her to a specialist but as always with the NHS there is a long waiting period. One of his elderly patients jumps to the conclusion that she has a terminal illness with distressing results, and tarty Chelsea Emmanuel strips off in his surgery when he has no chaperone, and then spreads malicious rumours.
The bright spot in his life is the weekend visits of his daughter Holly, who makes friends with Bethan, the daughter of the local policeman Brian Anderton. But even this pleasant association is soon a problem as Brian Anderton’s wife Claudine has a stalker, a weirdo who steals her underwear off the washing line. Brian is very jealous and takes it into his head that it is Daniel who is after Claudine.
As Daniel tries to deal with the increasing drama of his life, he makes the mistake of asking a colleague if she would like a drink after work, and then he has another problem.
The book covers a period of time and the tensions, the jealousy, and desire fester culminating in a dramatic climax.
One thing that made me laugh was Daniel’s observation that when he had moved to the town he had brought a property that was central, but that every time he stepped out of his front door he was in his consulting room, as anyone passing by would give them their symptoms and expect a diagnosis on the spot. It reminded me of a doctor friend telling me that he was at a party once when a woman insisted on describing her gynecological problems, in desperation he said, ‘if you would like to strip off here madame I will examine you now’!
The
insight into human nature portrayed by the characters in the book is masterly.
I was reminded of Thursday Afternoons
by Monica Dickens, - the same wonderful story-telling ability where the reader
gets swept up in the lives of the characters. I couldn’t stop reading it. I wanted
to pick up the next installment and continue reading about them all, so real
and fully fleshed out were they. Highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Lizzie Hayes
Priscilla Masters was born in Halifax, and brought up in South Wales, one of seven multi-racial children adopted by an orthopaedic surgeon and his Classics graduate wife. Priscilla trained as a registered nurse in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham. She moved to Staffordshire in the 1970s, had an antiques business for a while and two sons. She started writing in the 1980s in response to an aunt asking her what she was going to do with her life! Winding up the Serpent was her first Joanna Piercy story, published in 1995. There are now fifteen books in the series. She has also written several medical standalones and a series set in Shrewsbury, featuring coroner Martha Gunn. Her most recent series features Dr Claire Roget who is a forensic psychiatrist who has some very unpredictable patients.
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