Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Nightingale Girls

By: Donna Douglas
Narrated by: Penelope Freeman
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £13.99

Buy Now for £13.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

Three very different girls sign up as trainee nurses at a big London teaching hospital in 1934. Dora leaves her overcrowded, squalid working-class home for a better life. But has she got what it takes to keep up with other, better-educated girls? And will her hated stepfather ever let her go? Helen is born for the job; her brother is a doctor, her all-powerful mother a hospital trustee. But will Helen’s secret misery be her downfall? An aristocratic rebel, Millie’s carefree attitude will find her up in front of Matron again and again. Will she ever care enough to make a nurse? Or will she go back to the glamorous life she was born to? What have they let themselves in for?

©2012 Donna Douglas (P)2013 Soundings
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Nurses of Steeple Street cover art
District Nurse on Call cover art
A Mother's Journey cover art
The Three Sisters of Victory Walk cover art
Wartime with the Cornish Girls cover art
A Thimble for Christmas cover art
The District Nurses of Victory Walk cover art
Larch Tree Lane cover art
New Neighbours for Coronation Close cover art
Winter's Orphan cover art
Wartime Brides cover art
There'll Be Blue Skies cover art
The Fixer Upper cover art
A Wartime Wife cover art
Then Came You cover art
White Lines cover art

What listeners say about The Nightingale Girls

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    125
  • 4 Stars
    29
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    7
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    116
  • 4 Stars
    14
  • 3 Stars
    8
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    4
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    116
  • 4 Stars
    20
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    4

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was my first read from this author and I certainly look forward to the rest of this series.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great story & excellent narration

I've listened to all the nightingale stories and can't fault any of them. I really love the narrator's voice and her ability to change her tone and accents to suit different characters.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Review

Book good but it was cut short at the end , I thought that I had pressed stop button by mistake .however good narration and brought back memories of my nurse training

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

evocative of an era

Well written and evocative of the era. you feel like you are there with the well written characters.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant, fantastic book!!

Really enjoyed listening to this book I laughed and couldn’t stop listening until I finish the book. Well done Donna Douglas and well done. Penelope Freeman excellent narrator

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Pleasantly surprised

I thought I would give this book a try as couldn’t find anything else to take my fancy at the time. I am so so glad I tried it as it is a fantastic book. The story keeps you hooked and is great from beginning to end. The narrator is brilliant and her range of characters voices and enthusiasm is just as much a pull to carry on listening as the story itself. So all in all I can highly recommend this book. I am now onto the second book in the series and it is just as good and is keeping me gripped too. Am very glad there is a few books in the series to look forward to.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Really well produced

I really enjoyed listening to this book. The narration was very animated and a joy to listen to
I loved the fact it was based around historical nurse training but focused on the characters and not just the medical side.
Really well written and will look for more in this series

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Training and life of the original nightingale nurs

What did you like most about The Nightingale Girls?

The story had me gripped from posh to poor then all had their places to fill.
Each nurse had their own background story to tell which made interesting listening.
All that glitters is not gold springs to mind.

What other book might you compare The Nightingale Girls to, and why?

a long time ago I read a book about young mothers being sent away to convents to have with babies because they were unmarried, this made me think of the hard times they had.

Which character – as performed by Penelope Freeman – was your favourite?

Dora Doyle isn't so lucky as she wasn't from a wealthy background but she was so good with other people and always ready to help others even when they wasn't nice to her.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When Helen stood up to her mother.

Any additional comments?

A good listen it leaves you wanting most the follow on book is called Nightingale Sisters,

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Lovely light read

I picked this book up on a whim as part of a 2 for 1 sale, but I'm really glad I did. I found the story thoroughly engaging (even if it was quite predictable). I highly recommend for anyone looking for a bit of light, chick lit, historical fiction.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic Story

beautifully written, and superbly narrated.
enjoyed every minute.
following a group of girls entering the medical profession, all with totally different backgrounds, made lovely listening, especially with Penelope as the narrator. can't wait to start the next one.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!