Sue Barton books

These were some of my favourite young Adult books as a kid, and I still like to read them. Although they are set years ago, they feel quite modern. Sue Barton is a from New Hampshire and her father is a doctor in a small town. The novels start with her going to a large hospital in a city (unnamed) to train as a nurse, at the age of 18. She makes 2 good friends, Connie Halliday, daughter of a rich man, and Kit (Katherine) Van Dyke, a Canadian girl. The girls go through three years training and graduate, and in her final year, Connie falls in love with a young writer and reporter, Phil Saunders and in spite of family opposition, they get engaged. Sue however finds herself falling in love with Bill Barry a young trainee doctor, who asks her to marry him in her final year. She wants to have a career for a while, so she agrees to marry him when she has worked for a while. SHe has decided to go into public health nursing, in the Henry Street nursing organisation. Kit decides to go with Sue to train at Henry St, (a real life organisation to help the poor of New York). They move to New York and rent a small house there and Sue finds she loves the work, helping people and not being tied in a hospital. Connie and Phil get married, and Bill, who is now working in a small town practice in New Hampshire, asks Sue to hurry on their marriage. She and Kit have also taken in a young girl who has been living rough on the streets and are helping her to get an education, her name is Marianna. Sue tells Bill that she feels it would be wrong to leave Henry St after only 6 months, and they have a quarrel which ends the engagement.