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  • Bilbury Chronicles

  • The Young Country Doctor, Book 1
  • By: Vernon Coleman
  • Narrated by: Rory Barnett
  • Length: 8 hrs and 24 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (18 ratings)

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Bilbury Chronicles cover art

Bilbury Chronicles

By: Vernon Coleman
Narrated by: Rory Barnett
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Summary

Bilbury Chronicles is the first of a series of books describing the adventures (and misadventures) of a young doctor who enters general practice as an assistant to an elderly and rather eccentric doctor in Devon, England.

When he arrives in Bilbury, a small village on the edge of Exmoor, the young doctor doesn't realize how much he has to learn. But he soon finds the extent of his ignorance when he meets his patients. There is Anne Thwaites, who gives birth in the middle of a field and local rogue Thumper Robinson, who knows a good many tricks that aren't in any textbooks. And there is Mike Trickle, a TV show host, who causes great excitement when he buys a house in the village. 

The young doctor's employer is elderly Dr. Brownlow, who lives in a house that looks like a castle, drives an old Rolls Royce, and patches his stethoscope with a bicycle inner tube repair kit. The local pub, the Duck and Puddle, is run by Frank, the inebriate landlord, and the village shop is run by Peter, who also drives the local taxi, delivers the mail, and acts as the local undertaker. There is Miss Johnson, the receptionist with a look that can curdle milk; Mrs Wilson, the buxom district nurse, and Len, her husband, who is the local policeman with an embarrassing secret. And there is Patsy.

©1992 Vernon Coleman (P)2019 Tantor

What listeners say about Bilbury Chronicles

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Heartbeat with a stethoscope.

Tales of a doctors first practice in a quaint village. The book is very easy listening although the stories range from humorous to tragic.
I've added the second volume to my book list.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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An old favourite

I read all the Bilbury books many years ago and loved them . So it was lovely to find them on Audio and get to discover, yet again, this charming village and characters from a gentler and simpler time in which I grew up. I cannot recommend it enough although I found the narrator less engaging.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Great story

Such a lovely, easy listening story. The narrator is very easy to listen to and you very quickly fall in love with Bilbury and the characters.
Highly recommend

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Not cheesy

Good normal characters, and unpredictable unlike most other village story books. Good narration and a good story.

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Another great find!

It was free in plus catalog and I was a bit apprehensive… just hate starting a book and struggle through it or abandon it half way through. This, however, was a great found. It was funny and sad but also heart warming story. Highly recommended

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Not a nice book

I love the books of Miss Read and James Herriot and I thought that the Bilbury books would be equally charming; I was wrong. The characters are two-dimensional and many of the incidents in the story are unpleasant, distasteful. This book has no charm at all. I stuck with it until one of the characters said something blasphemous and then I gave up on it. I will not read/listen to any more books by this author.

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