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Beyond the Reef: A Medical Volunteer Sojourn: Michele Browne

Rated 5.00 out of 5 based on 15 customer ratings
(15 customer reviews)

$21.20

When two young doctors, Michele and Michael Browne, embarked on a two-year volunteer sojourn to a tiny Pacific island in the 1980s, they were faced with far more than they had expected. While they experienced adventure and humour in this picturesque setting, their intense isolation, and the life and death encounters that they faced in their medical work, tested their resilience as never before. When personal tragedy struck their young family late in their posting, they found themselves profoundly changed – both then and ever since.

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Category: Memoirs Tags: cook islands, doctors, memoir, travel

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  • Description
  • Reviews (15)

Description

What Readers are Saying:

‘The expat’s life is on full display in Michele Browne’s ‘Beyond the Reef’, a book about moving from Australia to a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific, about learning to cope, learning the customs, and saving lives as doctors during their stay in the Cook Islands from 1988 to 89. In these pages you’ll have the unique opportunity to live the sometimes harrowing, at times heartbreaking, and other times hilarious adventures in Beyond the Reef. You’ll be richer for it.’ – Brent Meske, author, and English Lecturer at the Joongbu University in Korea

‘I commend this book for its whimsical and gentle encouraging Christian message of service and love. In this time of chaos and anxiety, it will help people to reflect on our neighbours, Australia and our place in the world.’ – Peter Bentley, Past-President of the Australasian Religious Press Association, and editor or contributor to numerous Christian publications.

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15 reviews for Beyond the Reef: A Medical Volunteer Sojourn: Michele Browne

  1. Rated 5 out of 5

    Marguerite Jones: – January 25, 2021

    Congratulations and many thanks for a very professional publication – “Beyond the Reef”!! Amazing achievement! The book is a testament to your perseverance and writing prowess.

  2. Rated 5 out of 5

    Michele Dallimore – January 25, 2021

    Loved it. Great stories that were very engaging and easy to read. Well done!!

  3. Rated 5 out of 5

    Jenny Axtens – January 25, 2021

    I really enjoyed this lovely book! A sensitive and thorough insight into another time and another place and how some volunteer work can shape a family.

  4. Rated 5 out of 5

    Chloe Dallimore – January 25, 2021

    I loved this book! Fantastic read! I would recommend it to a friend.

  5. Rated 5 out of 5

    Joanne Barnes-White – January 25, 2021

    Have fallen in love with your book – can’t put it down. Such a great read!

  6. Rated 5 out of 5

    K Green – January 25, 2021

    I found your book very inspiring and it made me laugh and cry. I am happy to encourage others to read it.

  7. Rated 5 out of 5

    B Baker – January 25, 2021

    What a wonderful read! As I read, I was all the time picturing the author and her husband in all those unique & challenging situations! Thank you for sharing your story, it just confirms what incredible people you are!

  8. Rated 5 out of 5

    Peter Hanson – January 27, 2021

    The short anecdotal style allows the pace of this personal memoir to gallop along. The reader is readily able to ride the emotional waves arising from Michele and Michael’s medical and personal character developing experiences on a small island among the Cook Islands group. Not only a valuable family memoir but an opportunity for wider insight for us all into the demands of providing medical services with limited resources in an isolated island community where different cultural values apply. The book is also a reminder that there is opportunity, challenge and reward for participating in a world outside of one’s comfort zones.

  9. Rated 5 out of 5

    Nancy Davies – January 27, 2021

    A fantastic holiday read!! Admittedly I’d never heard of this little paradise, Aitutaki tucked away in the Cook Islands and Michele Browne does a fantastic job of describing the rich, untamed landscape to readers as we explore through her eyes the island in all its varied and wonderful tones. In a year where travel is restricted this made for apt holiday reading! This book weaves quite comfortably between life and death situations with humour, warmth and honesty. Delivering on laughs and tears, Michele’s candid account is heartfelt and genuine. A must read!

  10. Rated 5 out of 5

    Dirk Rotgans – January 27, 2021

    This is such a readable book, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It gives a window into the lives of two people exploring their personal limits in order to help others.

  11. Rated 5 out of 5

    Robin Vonk – February 4, 2021

    Stuck in COVID iso? Wishing you could escape to a tropical island? Well – this book may be the next best thing. Witty and engaging, this book gives an insider’s view to everyday life in the Pacific. Michele writes with warmth and humour about her family’s efforts to provide medical care in a place with few resources. Filled with stories that will grab your attention and pull at your heart, this is one you’ll find hard to put down.

  12. Rated 5 out of 5

    Nick Hartgerink – September 18, 2021

    In Beyond The Reef, Michele Browne has woven a highly readable tale of the two years in the 1980s that she and her husband Michael spent as young volunteer doctors on a small island in the Cook Islands group. Her anecdote-driven style is fast-paced and entertaining, as she describes everything from the everyday challenges of feeding her family when the supply barge can’t make it through the surf ringing the island, to treating life-threatening injuries and conditions in somewhat primitive medical facilities. Michele’s descriptions of the island customs and lifestyle are insightful and fascinating. You can’t help feeling that they must have returned to Australia much better doctors for their experiences.

  13. Rated 5 out of 5

    Marnie French – September 24, 2021

    “Beyond the Reef” held my attention, the whole time I was reading it and I looked forward to relaxing with it each evening. It was easy to read and very interesting. Of course, my blood ran cold at the thought of managing all those obstetric emergencies! I got a good picture of the Māori people and their culture and attitudes. I already had some concepts of various Māori peoples and Michele’s story was a completely different aspect of their lives. It seemed that the same bureaucratic bungles happened with their requests for equipment as happen here. However, the consequences were more dire! And often they both ended up solving problems themselves – quite apart from the medical problems. Obviously, the work was very demanding and how they managed with two little children I really couldn’t imagine. We think they were very brave … There must have been many times of despair and worry. Michele, I must congratulate you on the publication of your book with its account of all your various experiences.

  14. Rated 5 out of 5

    Paul Borig – September 24, 2021

    Amazing adventure! Oh, the highs and lows of being thrown in at the deep end of volunteering in such a remote and culturally different “paradise”! A most engaging and eye-opening read – thank you Michele for sharing the intimate details of your family’s amazing adventure – I couldn’t put it down…Thank you again for your book. I thoroughly enjoyed every page!

  15. Rated 5 out of 5

    Catherine Bolton – September 29, 2021

    Fantastic book. So many and varied experiences with the family. Every chapter was highlighted with a sense of adventure. The challenges and successes in a remote situation with minimal medical services and supplies. Well done Michele.

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