Tiny Pineapple

ananas comosus (L.) minimus

Nurse of Thorne Grotto

by Jane McCarthy (1977)
Nurse of Thorne Grotto

Recovering from a broken love affair and in need of money to pay bills incurred during her mother’s long illness, Lovely Noel Savant agrees to attend a patient at Thorne Grotto, the hideout of Sir High Thorne, a self-made millionaire, now a recluse. Suffering from gout, Sir High is irascible, fighting Noel’s every ministration. And his physician, Dr. Young, is skilled in acupuncture but seems to ignore the proper medical treatment both of Sir Hugh and of his handsome young nephew, Jeffrey Thorne, who, stricken with tetanus after a fall from his horse, will die within hours unless he receives proper medical attention.

Mystery and adventure follow Noel as she travels with Sir Hugh to Washington, where he is to speak before the Senate regarding a conspiracy to corner the grain market. Sir Hugh is faced with treachery and deceit on all sides, even from his daughter, Carol, who has apparently abandoned her family. But both Noel and Jeff have faith in the girl, and Dr. Callum Winchester, Noel’s old flame, appears on the scene, determined to discover the truth. How Noel escapes almost certain death and finds love and happiness makes fascinating reading.

Nurse of the Grand Canyon

by Virginia Smiley (1973)
Nurse of the Grand Canyon

Kathleen fell in love at first sight…

The Grand Canyon was a long way from New York City…

…but pretty young nurse Kathleen McMasters was ready for a big change. She became enchanted by the spectacular beauty of the West and decided that this was where she wanted to live and work.

One of the first people Kathleen met in Grand Canyon Village was little Kerry Laughlin. Kathleen was charmed by the child, and Kerry thought Kathleen would make the perfect wife for her handsome widower father, Pete.

Kathleen truly liked Pete. But she also found herself attracted to another man. Now she would have to choose between them…

Nurse of the Wine Country

by Ruth McCarthy Sears (1971)
Nurse of the Wine Country

After the death of her father in Korea, Margo Hale and her mother, Tonia, lived with Margo’s Aunt Elinor — and when Tonia gave up her fight for life without the man she loved, Margo looked upon her aunt as her sole relative. Dimly, she knew that her mother’s people, the Spanish Margiols, had vineyards in California, but she also knew that the Margiols had renounced her mother when she married an outsider.

Then, at Elinor Hale’s funeral, Vincent Margiol appeared — to command Margo to come to the Big M to nurse his seriously ill sister, Maria. Margo’s first impulse was to refuse this imperious uncle, but second thoughts told her that she had nothing to gain by remaining in San Francisco. Dr. Greg Forbes was not interested in a poor young nurse, and Jay Dexter, although charming and wealthy, seemed like a boy to her. She would go to Mendocino and satisfy her curiosity about her mother’s people.

To her delight, Nurse Margo found a whole new world with the Margiols, who ruled firmly, but always fairly and with integrity. And she lost her heart completely to her Aunt Maria. But that was before she had been rebuffed by Nikki Margiol, the doctor in the family and a Margiol only by adoption. All that was left for Margo — now that Aunt Maria was recovering her health — was to return to San Francisco…

Nurse of the Thousand Islands

by Audrey P. Johnson (1978)
Nurse of the Thousand Islands

I turned off the busy highway into the rest area with its thicket of shade trees that offered respite from the hot sun. A few campers were parked under the trees, and children played on the swings and slides. From the stone fireplaces rose the aroma of grilled hamburgers, and I realized that I hadn’t eaten since breakfast. It was nearly four o’clock, and I had been driving north for hours.

The scenic route along the Hudson River with the brooding Catskill Mountains in the background had been pleasant, but now I had reached the flat farmland of central New York, and the traveling had become monotonous.

I put my head back on the headrest and closed my eyes. In less than two hours, I should reach Elm Forks on the St. Lawrence River, where Dr. Tate said I could catch the car ferry to Cory Island. I would spend the next eight weeks at Camp Shandelee as camp nurse for overweight adolescent girls.

Nurse of the Golden Gate

by Nell Marr Dean (1971)
Nurse of the Golden Gate

As the office nurse to prominent doctors Kosta Karadakis and Phillip Fanning, Vicki Crawford came in contact with many of the wealthy and important people in San Francisco’s high society. But if it were not for her Aunt Twila, Vicki would leave her profitable job and return to her first love — hospital-duty nursing.

So far, this was impossible. Twila had taken Vicki in and given her a home when she was orphaned at the age of nine, and it was Twila who had paid her way through nurses’ training. The debt had to be repaid, and Twila was the type of woman who did not hesitate to keep Vicki “in bondage.” What was even worse was that Twila had an investment in a gambling club, and if the social-minded Kosta ever discovered that he was courting someone whose aunt was involved in anything illegal, there would be more to pay than just a debt.

Vicki lived in an apartment in Alameda, across the bay, and when her car stalled on her one day, she met a man named Ron Newcomb — who turned out to be a resident with the county hospital. Their friendship grew, and Vicki kept shifting her interest between Kosta and Ron — until Ron became outspokenly critical of her working for a pair of society doctors whom he viewed with scorn.

Mrs. Dean skillfully blends intrigue and romance in this moving story of a young nurse who finds herself in conflict with her ideals.