David R Stewart

Charlotte Doyle, Canal Doctor David R Stewart

This is my sixth book in my series about the Doyle siblings from Ballylee, Ireland. I have written my books so each novel has its own way of tying in with the previous adventure making the reading more intriguing. You may wonder how each sibling?s separate journey will cross paths with another. But rest assured that each of the Doyle children will eventually come in contact with the Pennsylvania Canal System ? an engineering feat of my deepest admiration. In my first book, ?John Doyle and the Pennsylvania Canal,? I told the story of a man who was actually born in Ballylee, Ireland in 1795. He died in 1828 and is interred in the Liverpool Catholic Cemetery in Central Pennsylvania. The only known facts about his life are what are carved on his headstone. He was born in Ireland, so obviously he had a mother and father living there and, most likely, siblings. However, nothing is known about the Doyle family. Although John Doyle was a real person, the story I molded for him was pure fiction, as are the younger siblings I have created for him: Book 2: Kevin Doyle and the Mystery of Butu Island Book 3: Michael Doyle, the Demon Out of Ireland Book 4: Margaret Ann Doyle, the Mystic Healer Book 5: Daniel Doyle, Saga of the Psychic Book 6: When Charlotte Doyle's older sister, a nurse serving the Sisters of Charity, was lost at sea near Australia, Charlotte felt obligated to follow in her footsteps. Though not her first career choice, Charlotte dutifully traveled from her home in Ireland to France to be trained as a nurse at the Saint Joan of Arc Hospital. Although satisfied with her work, she began to question if she made the right decision about her life, especially after she learned years later that her older sister had survived the ship wreck. It wasn't until Charlotte set sail for America to visit her brother and younger sister that she was forced to come face to face with doubts that had long plagued her. When she fell in love with a handsome stranger, then discovered that she was carrying his child, her life was suddenly turned upside down. Fate eventually took her to Liverpool, Pennsylvania where she became the canal town's doctor. There she experienced the wonderment, humor, and mystery of small town life in the backwoods of America. Doctor Doyle's medical career, which began during France's 1830 Revolution, prepared her for the ravages of the American Civil War when it arrived in Central Pennsylvania.