A View of the Mountains

In 1955, Britain's socialized medical system is new; and it isn't working as the physicians and patients who supported its creation thought it would. To a modern U.S. reader, it sounds like an HMO on steroids. Married-to-each-other doctors Morris and Janet Gibson, frustrated into either leaving their profession or emigrating, choose the latter alternative. Contacted by the Chamber of Commerce in a Canadian Rockies hamlet called Okotoks, which has no resident doctor, they decide - sight unseen - to settle there. With post-war currency controls forcing them to leave behind all but a few hundred dollars of their savings, including what they realize from selling their dream home, Morris, Janet, and their 12-year-old daughter Catriona arrive in Alberta to find that Okotoks has no Chamber of Commerce. A few local businessmen once thought about forming one, and somehow during their "thinking" (which came to nothing at that time) they sent out an appeal for a relocating physician to consider their town. That's how the Gibsons' adventure begins. Morris writes their first years in Okotoks (yes, they stayed - I can hardly consider this a spoiler, since if they hadn't there would have been no book!) in chapter-long vignettes reminiscent of his good friend James Herriot's work. Poignant, hilarious, and thought-provoking by turns, the result is a delight to read. People are people, everywhere, in every era, yes; Morris Gibson understands that, and his stories emphasize it as a truth. But he also captures the nuances of Canadian culture (that is NOT an oxymoron!), and the uniqueness of each person he and Janet and Catriona come to know as they adapt themselves to their new home. A gem. Pure and simple.