By Josephine James, ©1965
Cover illustration by
Stan Klimley
Kathy’s decision to
join the Peace Corps was the most important step she’d ever taken—and the
toughest. Strict self-discipline was required to face the cram courses,
endurance tests and survival outings. Each day offered new—and demanding—experiences.
Then, suddenly, she realized that something sinister was happening at the
training school. A strange African spirit mask had been stolen—and the theft
threatened the success of the entire program. Kathy knew that if she tried to
solve the mystery, she’d be risking everything she had worked for … but she
also knew that if she didn’t try, she would never find peace with herself …
GRADE: B
BEST QUOTES:
“I’ve seen movies of Africa, and it’s no place for a
girl.”
“Falling in love isn’t like falling
in a swimming pool. There’s no lifeguard around to haul you out if you can’t
make it.”
REVIEW:
This book is billed as a romance novel, but I have to say
that is a huge stretch. Nurse Kathy Martin does have a boyfriend, Steve, who is
mentioned now and again, but the truth of the matter is that she is basically leaving
him for a couple years to head off to Liberia with the Peace Corps, and we’ll
see if he’s decided to wait around until then.
Though titled Peace
Corps Nurse, this book is about Kathy’s application to the Peace Corps and
then her training, which is held in the San Francisco Bay Area, and has nothing
to do with any actual nursing while on assignment, which disappointed me, but
it was still a pleasant enough story. Kathy arrives on the college campus with
her best friend, nurse Jenny Ramirez, who has also been accepted into the Peace
Corps. The pair has been assigned to Liberia—as has pretty much everyone they
run into on their training—so they are especially interested in Africa and are
taking classes about what life is like there. In a book written in 1965, this
could well be a recipe for a racist-laden nightmare, but author Josephine James
does a stellar job of discussing the problem. One character, Tony Kepatu, is a
Liberian native who is a graduate student acting as a teaching assistant for
the Peace Corps training, and he is an upstanding, intelligent teacher. Though
accused of stealing a Liberian mask, Kathy and her fellow students largely
refuse to believe it. Another Peace Corps student, Faith Channing, is a wealthy
black woman whose father is a college professor. She is somewhat spoiled, but
she is also vigilant about pointing out racism when she sees it, such as when a
group of costumed native Liberians sings and dances for the trainees. “That’s
how people think about all Negroes. Happy, dancing clowns,” she says.
The main story is about Kathy’s efforts to locate the
Liberian mask, which belongs, coincidentally, from her field nursing
teacher, a woman who has spent many decades practicing nursing in rural Liberia.
The mystery is not the strongest element of the story, as clues are dropped
ham-handedly at routine intervals. But the main reasons to read this story are
its light touch, its sense of humor, and the Bay Area armchair travel. If it’s
not the greatest nurse novel, it’s easily a pleasant afternoon.
