The Doctor

by Ralph Connor

Dr. Charles William Gordon (1860-1937) used the pen name of Ralph Connor to publish fiction while maintaining status as a church leader.

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1906

About the author

University of Toronto educated Charles William Gordon, ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1890. Under the pseudonym Ralph Connor, he published more than thirty novels, including The Man from Glengarry (1901) and Glengarry School Days (1902). These novels made him an internationally best-selling author.

Reviews

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel by Canadian Ralph Connor was a top-10 bestseller in the U.S. when it was published. Set partly in Ontario and partly in British Columbia, it’s an inspirational story of sacrifice and suffering that would strike most readers today as profoundly sentimental.

The doctor of the title, Barney Boyle, is a man from a country village who overcomes the disadvantages of rural poverty to become a world-traveling doctor. Tirelessly serving others, he at last exhausts himself and falls ill while treating the miners and railway workers on the Canadian frontier...

Read my review at my blog.

[Rebekah Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ralph Connor always does this to me. The story starts out a bit slow, though not as slow as some of his others, and then, without you even realizing it, he hooks you and you finish the book with a long sigh of a story well told. The characters, the descriptions, the power of God's forgiveness and love . . . it was so well done. There was one instance where I wanted to prevent the characters from making a wrong and sinful choice. I was almost afraid of what would happen, but Ralph Connor handled things in such a way that it was brief, not emotionally descriptive, and then it was over. Except for the consequences.
This was one of his books that I didn't need to use the white-out.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about two brothers: Barney, who becomes a doctor, and Dick, who becomes a minister. Both characters, plus the two main female characters, Margaret and Iola, are well developed. There is action and romance, but the book has a deep religious theme. The only negative I will mention is that some of the minor characters have dialects and they are hard to follow.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not one of the author's more interesting books. OK. A little slow going and repetitious.

[Catwall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Children's literature, chapter book - ©1906
This was a book my father read when he was 14; published in 1906, very much a boy's adventure book