The Chronicles of Paisley • CornersWith experiences as a public health nurse, and nursing professor, Cheryl's deep love for her work and appreciation of the privileged lessons afforded to nurses who bear witness to the lives of diverse individuals and communities are what inspired her to write The Chronicles of Paisley • Corners. Prior to writing the novel, her writing has largely been academic, crafting articles on girls’ and women’s mental health and co-editing Canada’s leading public health nursing text. A lifelong enthusiast of all things Anne of Green Gables, she studies the life and writing of Lucy Maud Montgomery through her membership in the Lucy Maud Montgomery Society of Ontario.
The Chronicles of Paisley • Corners is her debut novel, and launched in 2023. Cheryl is pictured beside 'the bestest boy' and writing buddy, Jack. |
Excerpts from The Chronicles of Paisley • Corners
Sometimes a place is so beautiful that thoughts of its sumptuous trees, flowered hills, and endearing people float into your subconscious and tenderly strike root. Sometimes that place is so unsuspectedly impactful, you find yourself daydreaming about its lessons, wondering if you’d ever be able to explain how it feels to be there. That’s the way it is for Public Health Nurse (PHN) Kick Cavendish when she thinks of her newly discovered Paisley • Corners (dot intended), especially at first light. Somehow, in the quiet of an imminent day, the sky, the wind, and the changing seasons appear all the more vivid. The rustic wonderland that is Paisley • Corners pulled her in.
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It’s not as if the public health nurse knew exactly what she was going to do at this stage of her life, aside from wanting to live and work in rural Ontario. It’s more that she didn’t know. Kick didn’t have a basement full of ducks and goats just waiting for her to discover an untenanted barn surrounded by twenty-five acres. But a longing to care for, protect and strengthen beings who were misunderstood and devalued had always been in the recesses of her heart—a longing both denied and met. Longings that, in part, brought her to a career in nursing. But it took Paisley • Corners and a vacant barn to re-open that space of her heart, long stymied by unspoken disappointments.
*******
It’s not as if the public health nurse knew exactly what she was going to do at this stage of her life, aside from wanting to live and work in rural Ontario. It’s more that she didn’t know. Kick didn’t have a basement full of ducks and goats just waiting for her to discover an untenanted barn surrounded by twenty-five acres. But a longing to care for, protect and strengthen beings who were misunderstood and devalued had always been in the recesses of her heart—a longing both denied and met. Longings that, in part, brought her to a career in nursing. But it took Paisley • Corners and a vacant barn to re-open that space of her heart, long stymied by unspoken disappointments.
REVIEWS
"An insightful tale of rural life and a nurse’s empathetic ethos."
KIRKUS
"A contemporary novel showcases a newly arrived public health nurse and the residents of the rural community in Ontario that she serves. Kick Cavendish is touring a “Log Home for Sale” in Paisley • Corners, the quirkily named village north of Toronto where she has just taken a public health nursing post. The house will be perfect for her plan to have animals, including alpacas, which have “a vibrational energy that is calming and grounding.” — Kirkus Reviews |
Whether you're a nurse or someone whose been helped by a nurse, this is your chance to join 'Kick', a wise and devoted Public Health Nurse, to dive into how and why she cares for her real-life neighbours in rural Canada. A lovely, thoughtful, sharing of nursing's core values - stories Florence Nightingale would have loved!.
Dr. Deva Marie Beck & Dr. Barbie Dossey, International Co-Directors - Nightingale Initiative for Global Health
Dr. Deva Marie Beck & Dr. Barbie Dossey, International Co-Directors - Nightingale Initiative for Global Health
FIND THE BOOK.
The novel is available through all typical venues including Indigo, Amazon, Kindle, Kobo, Better World Books, Friesen Press and through Ingram Distribution
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