Cruise Nurse by Joan Sargent

It looks like pretty Sheila Dorrance is up for a whirlwind romance on the high seas, but she is a cruise ship nurse who will throw it all away for her career.

At twenty-one, Sheila chose nursing where she might meet eligible doctors or patients, but the prospects were slim. A wealthy patient recommended her to the small cruise ship Southward, traveling through the Caribbean. The ship's doctor, Peter Stowe, held no appeal, and the other nurse, Rose, is hiding out from her husband (hint: he's coming to get her). Once they are out to sea, it's the usual Dramamine or drunkards. Encouraged to mingle with passengers, Donna plays tennis with tall and handsome Clay Masters, and befriends an old widow and her young daughter she keeps under her thumb. Mrs. Ferrier is turning her daughter into a fearful hypochondriac like herself, but when she gets appendicitis, Sheila encourages Elise to stand on her own and join the tours through Havana, Trinidad, Martinique, and Kingston. Sheila tries her best to couple Clay and Elise, and it works. When they reach the final port town in Haiti, they find an outbreak of cholera, and Sheila's heart cannot go back - she must stay and help fight for the health of the people.

This was a quick, entertaining read (I guess 'Cholera Nurse' is not an appealing title). Published in 1960, Sheila felt a woman without money had to marry it. I often find these 'romance' novels subversive, intimating a woman's happiness is marriage, but revealing a career is more fulfilling. They hook you with the cover, then show a woman can stand on her own merit without a man. Clay was a nice guy, but.

My copy was an Ace Double, paired with a second novel, Calling Doctor Merryman by Margaret Howe, on the reverse. This was recently reprinted by Nurse Novels Publishing under the author's real name, Sara Jenkins Cunningham (with a different cover), and they used the cover of Cruise Nurse for their reprint of Ship's Nurse by Rosie M. Banks.

1960/ Paperback / 125 pages