Praise for A Nurse’s Story

A cracking good read. . . . this is undoubtedly a strong memoir. I hope it’s not the only story Shalof has to tell.

There are genuinely heart-rending, disturbing and thought-provoking stories to be found in the pages of A Nurse’s Story. If this book doesn’t give you pause, you’re made of stone.

[It is] difficult to put down, so compelling and beautifully written are these stories. . . . Shalof’s stories are naked and vulnerable. 

In a post-SARS world where nurses are finally being recognized for the heroes they always were, A Nurse’s Story is the best-seller no one can put down. 

Tilda Shalof’s A Nurse’s Story is the first time the work of nurses has been documented in print in Canada in such an honest, no-holds-barred account. . . . Shalof has seen it all, and writes about it, too.

But her book isn’t a doom-and-gloom account of overworked nurses. Interspersed with tales of tragedy are accounts of the funny, often bizarre events that transpire on an ICU. 

A compelling book laced with humour. 

There are genuinely heart-rending, disturbing and thought-provoking stories to be found in the pages of A Nurse’s Story. If this book doesn’t give you pause, you’re made of stone. 

This is a difficult book. Its content is difficult. Its tone is difficult. But it is also difficult to put down, so compelling and beautifully written are these stores. . . . Shalof’s stories are naked and vulnerable. Nothing is held back in her portrayals of her most memorable experiences from the early ‘80s to the SARS crisis. . . . Shalof’s colleagues point out during one of their ongoing discussions about the value of their work, that eventually everyone needs a nurse. And for that reason alone, A Nurse’s Story would be worth reading, in order to understand where it is most of us will end up sooner or later, what it is that might be visited upon us and just who it is that will be looking after us…A Nurse’s Story helps us understand where it is most of us will end up sooner or later. 

Readers may approach this book with the hope of reading dramatic tales such as those seen on television shows such as “ER.” While such readers are not likely to be disappointed, they are likely to discover more than they had hoped. . . . By turns sad, funny and touching, the author has done an admirable job of providing an insightful look into the real world of an ICU.

Praise for The Making of a Nurse

"Grey’s Anatomy" should be so compelling. . . . The book, a follow-up to her first effort, the bestselling A Nurse's Story: Life, Death, and In-Between in an Intensive Care Unit, seems intended to answer two questions that pester the career nurse: How did you choose that profession? And why have you stuck it out for so long? Marshalling her considerable charm, a knack for vivid images and a crash cart jammed with real-life stories, Shalof fashions answers that are nuanced and often heart-wrenching. 

The book is an enthralling marriage of drama and introspection, narrative and analysis that never flags and never loses the reader’s attention. . . . Much of The Making of a Nurse reads with a crackling vitality, an as-it-happens energy that captures the intensity of the environment and her work, a world in which ‘another day at the office’ is an ongoing confrontation with illness and death.

The Making of a Nurse should find a variety of readers: readers of memoir, nurses, those seeking a good story all will find much to savour here. One hopes, though, it will find readers among people seeking a way to find meaning in their lives, a way to put their caring and patience to good use. It is comforting to know that there are nurses (and writers) like Tilda Shalof out there; would that there were more like her.” 

More Reviews

Below you can read PDF reviews of some of Tilda's books:

Maclean's Review of Camp Nurse

Nursing Leadership, Reviewed by Michael J. Villeneuve, RN, MSc

The Ottawa Citizen

Shelf Life

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