St. Catherine’s Hospital was located in Seaside, California, not far from San Francisco, but its main attraction for dark-haired, blue-eyed Ava Kendall was that there she could continue to surf — a thrilling sport that she had learned to love when in Hawaii.

Ava, after one unhappy experience, was through with men and ready to settle down to the serious business of nursing — and the fascinating game of pitting her skill against the giant waves.

But at St. Catherine’s, there was Blake Staunton, a surgeon with whom she worked almost every day. Almost too handsome, the aloof Dr. Staunton’s eyes held a brooding sadness that intrigued Ava.

She knew that he bitterly opposed surfing. Then she learned that he had lost his wife in a boating accident — and her heart went out to the doctor and his small nine-year-old son, Tony. Tony, in childish fashion, had decided that his father was afraid of the water and had chosen another hero to admire: Gary Hayden, the handsome owner of a surf-side hotel and a fearless surfer.

It was Gary who conceived the idea of a surfing act as a daring climax to the Water Carnival. No one could foresee the tragic aftermath of that ever-desired ninth wave.

When Dr. Paul told Nurse Nora that he was finished as a surgeon, did that mean he was finished with her too?

“Love is all I have to offer,” Dr. Paul Anderson told Nurse Nora Hilton, “but you rate a man who can give you love plus all the good things in life you deserve.”

And Nora did deserve them, for as an adopted child, she had tried to earn the right that she belonged by carrying the emotional problems, the financial problems, the worries and frustrations of a widowed mother, a temperamental sister, and an irresponsible brother. And Nora could not…would not shove these responsibilities onto Paul’s shoulders.

But Nora loved Paul with all her heart, so when she saw Paul suddenly seem to lose faith in his surgical skill and shut her out of his life, she felt helpless…especially when Paul turned to beautiful, wealthy Rita Lansing for comfort. Would Nora, stunned and hurt, turn to millionaire Andy Fine who loved her? Could Andy take Paul’s place in Nora’s life and heart?

As soon as word came from Dr. Russell Grover that a scrub-nurse position was available at Pentland General, Rose Lannen immediately left her nursing duties in New York and flew up to Pentland, Maine. It seemed odd that Rose would give up a big-city hospital for the smaller-scaled Pentland General, but Rose had an ulterior motive. Pentland General was where her half brother, Brian James, had worked until he was killed in a car crash, and Dr. Grover had told Rose that the austere chief of staff, Dr. Eric Hodges, had been the catalyst in Brian’s death. Apparently they had had an argument over Brian’s handling of a patient, and Brian, incensed, had raced off in his car and injured himself fatally. That had happened nearly two years before, and now Rose was determined to avenge Brian’s death by finding a way to expose Dr. Hodges professionally.

But everywhere Rose turned, she discovered that Dr. Hodges was respected, almost revered, as a top-notch surgeon. His assistant, the dark-goateed Ben Rivers, had only admiration for him; Scrub Nurse Mary Gray was obviously in love with him. Only Dr. Grover seemed as anxious as Rose to publicly dethrone the head man.

A delicate but crucial operation, in which Rose and Ben Rivers assist Dr. Hodges, brings matters to a dramatic climax in this story of a small-town hospital and its battle to preserve its standards.

Cara’s secret identity involves her in a tangle of mystery, jealousy and romance.

Never in her nursing career had lovely Cara Merrill received so strange a request. But Brent Butler was so persuasive that she reluctantly agreed to accompany him to the fabulous Butler estate to be his debutante fiancée.

Cara’s real purpose, Brent told her, was to watch over his elderly uncle whose health had been mysteriously failing. Brent was suspicious of his handsome cousin Paul–and when both men declared their love for her, Cara had to make the most important decision of her life!

While vacationing in the historic California town of Monterey, Darcy Burnett accidentally ran into her old college roommate, Evie Wood, and Evie’s handsome newspaperman brother, Paul. Raven-haired Darcy, just out of nursing school, was a little awed by the Woods, with their fabulous country mansion and immense fortune.

But when Darcy was suddenly called to Wood Manor on private duty, she found that her dream palace was a nest of intrigue and danger. All too quickly she became entangled in a web of deception and evil.

Could she trust attractive Amos Chandler, another young newsman? Or should she turn to Paul, sometimes distant, sometimes too tantalizingly close for comfort?