Even before she reached her destination in the desolate mountain area of Appalachia, while she was still in the Kentucky lowlands, Hope Farrell, R.N., sensed that the upper region and the people who lived there were somehow different and separate from the folks in town, who did not expert her to last long as a public health nurse. Yet, far from being discouraged, Hope regarded her assignment as an adventure and a challenge. She was ready to accept the poverty, disease and ignorance and to become a one-woman force to abolish it.

Yet it appeared the apathy of the mountain people might be even stronger than her dedication, and that their resentment against the outlander might have lost her the battle even before it was fully joined.

Young Roxanna Blake, dedicated coronary care nurse, was sure that handsome Eric Newberg returned the love she felt for him. So when the magnetic skier left California for Mount Hood in Oregon to pursue his skiing career, Roxanna followed him. But her idyllic dream of a life with Eric seemed to hit snags as soon as she arrived.

The first problem was Jody Averill, a women’s competition skier who was also determined to compete for Eric’s affections. Then there was Devon Roberts, who had a maddening habit of popping up when the young nurse least expected him. Worst of all, there was Eric’s determination to sacrifice everything — even Roxanna — to become a skiing champion.

Six months before, Trudy Wellington had left Texas to assume a nursing position at Hollywood Hospital and had moved in with Lynn Larson, another nurse, in Lynn’s apartment in the Valley. Both girls enjoyed each other’s company, and they even worked the same late-night shift. All in all, dark-haired Trudy considered herself a lucky girl.

Then the devastating California earthquake struck — and after hours on end of calming the patients and attending to the injured brought into Emergency, Trudy learned that her apartment building had been demolished. At this point, she was near collapse, and handling the emergency cases with the testy young Dr. Peter Marshall had not helped to steady her already overwrought nerves.

It was Susan Harding, the lovely blonde actress, who came to Trudy’s aid. Susan, a patient who had suffered a leg injury, insisted that Trudy and Lynn make use of her empty Santa Monica home for the time being. Trudy was hesitant about accepting such a lavish offer, but Lynn was eager to be among the movie-star set — and they did need a place to stay.

The unexpected occurs more often then not as Trudy is introduced to the world of filmdom, a world removed from hospitals and doctors — and where she soon learns that the world “love” has a different meaning from her own.

More than the hardships of the frozen North awaited pretty Holly Andrews when she arrived at the primitive hospital at the remote Alaskan outpost of Barrow. She was prepared to help fight the twin scourges of disease and superstition that afflicted the native Eskimos — but both the quick temper of the doctor in charge and the troubling attentions of a brash bush pilot caught Holly off guard.

Could she work under a doctor who seemed to despise her? Could she fall under the spell of a man who seemed as irresponsible as he was handsome? It took a terrifying medical crisis and a stark confrontation with tragedy to point Holly toward her destiny.

Nine stories about nurses and nursing, including…

Girl in White — only after Scotty had turned her back on love did she discover what love really means.

Flight Nurse — true story of the first combat Air Force nurse to win three Oak Leaf Clusters for bravery in World War II.

Candy Stripers — a teen-age volunteer almost runs away on her first day at the hospital.

A Cap for Mary Ellis — could she find the courage to be the first Negro student in an all-white school for nurses?