Nurse Millie Books in Order

The Nurse Millie series introduces Millie Sullivan, later Millie Smith, a young district nurse and midwife working for a charitable nursing association in East London at the end of the Second World War. Where many medical dramas stay on the ward, these books follow Millie up tenement stairs and down bomb scarred streets.

In Call Nurse Millie it is 1945 and the war in Europe is finally drawing to a close. Millie is twenty five, fully trained and already used to delivering babies in rooms lit by candles and damaged street lamps. Her days are split between home births, dressings for old wounds and comforting families who have lost sons, husbands or homes. At night she returns to Munroe House, the nurses' home, where friendships, small joys and the occasional row keep spirits up.

Sequel Christmas With Nurse Millie takes place over the festive season, when snow, shortages and winter illnesses pile extra pressure on the district nurses. Millie and fellow nurse Annie try to bring a little celebration into the lives of new mothers and the elderly, even as their own romantic hopes and family worries crowd in.

In All Change for Nurse Millie, the focus shifts to 1948. Millie has married Jim Smith, an ambitious local politician, and the newly created National Health Service is transforming her work. As expectations rise around her husband's career, Millie fights to keep nursing at the centre of her life, questioning whether she has to choose between marriage and the job she loves.

The shorter story Easter With Nurse Millie shines the light on trainee nurse Daphne Villiers, still grieving a lost fiance, while Millie plays matchmaker and mentor. It underlines one of the pleasures of the series, which is watching different generations of nurses support one another through grief, overwork and sudden happy turns.

Although there are births, deaths and more than a few tears, the books lean into the humour, gossip and stubborn resilience that run through the East End streets they describe.

Readers who like character led historical fiction will find plenty here, from pompous doctors and petty officials to shy new fathers and formidable matriarchs. The Nurse Millie novels can be read as standalones, but read together with the Connie books they build a layered picture of post war nursing just as Britain moves from charity based care to a fully fledged health service.