Having agreed to work with charity Medecins Sans
Frontieres, Dr. Ariadne Tate travels to Sudan in DOCTORS
BEYOND BORDERS. She's from Australia so the heat isn't too
big an issue. Reckless drivers and basic bathroom
facilities are less welcome. She has no intention of
getting involved with colleagues, having found the hard way
that such romances are not ideal.
Kidnapped aid workers and armed militia driving around
their compound make life uneasy for the medics, who are
surgeons, nurses and midwives trying to do their best in
this war-torn country. Another doctor, Ford Gosden from
America, seems to know his way around, and he has an effect
on Ariadne beyond friendship. He has been known to have
light romances, but never with colleagues, and he silently
expects that one tour in Sudan will be enough to send
Ariadne packing.
Disease, gunshot injuries, malnutrition and parasites are
not helped by lack of standard medical facilities, so
improvisation is the way to go while the heat saps
strength. On a three-week tour of villages with Ford,
Ariadne's familiarity with Arabic comes in useful, but
there's nowhere to hang her mosquito net, and she needs to
beware of scorpions. The political situation is ropey and
people have no security, no wealth. Seeing the crude,
perilous environment helps us understand how co-workers may
start a relationship for escapism as much as love.
Anyone interested in volunteering will be fascinated by
this story of hard-pressed people striving to make a
difference, while those looking for a romance may count it
among their more unusual reads. Landscape descriptions are
simply put but effective: when the rains suddenly start,
the paprika surroundings turn to a sea of melted chocolate.
Aid workers whose stories I've read fantasised constantly
about food, and that does seem to apply here, with one good
restaurant meal on a sojourn amounting to a feast. Then
it's back to the brutal reality and drama of Sudan, where
foreign women are in particular danger. Georgie Tyler has
done well to show the tension-filled actuality behind what
we see on TV screens in DOCTORS BEYOND BORDERS. I'll be
looking out for her next venture into adult romance and
realism.
When Ariadne Tate takes a deployment to Sudan with a medical
aid organisation, romance is the last thing on her mind…but
Dr Ford Gosden puts a glitch in her plans. Too damn
attractive for his own good and a thoroughly nice guy, Ford
slowly seeps under Ariadne's skin.
But Sudan is not a stable place to form a relationship, and
as political tension escalates in the region, Ariadne has no
choice but to focus on her job and her safety. Under the
protection of a UN convoy, she heads out into the war-torn
countryside — and the unthinkable happens. Captured and held
hostage by a renegade with no chance of escape, Ariadne's
hope for a new life with the man she loves begins to fade
and the fight for her life begins
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