Four must-read medical books
By M. Clare Haefner | Covers courtesy of the book publishers
Whether you’re a patient, a survivor, a caregiver or someone struggling with the loss of a loved one to cancer, Suleika Jaouad’s Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted (Random House, February 2021) should be on your reading list.
Dividing her life between being sick and being well, Jaouad spares few details as she shares her nearly four-year battle with cancer after a diagnosis at age 22.
Though much of her journey was chronicled through her “Life, Interrupted” column in the New York Times, Between Two Kingdoms relates how Jaouad pieces her life back together as she struggles to reclaim her life after going into remission.
Not sure what to do next, she sets out on a 100-day, 15,000-mile road trip across the U.S. to meet several of the strangers who wrote to her while she was receiving treatment. One of my favorites was Lil’ GQ, a death row inmate in Texas, with whom Jaouad forms a tenuous bond — both understanding what life in isolation feels like.
Throughout her journey, Jaouad realizes that “human experiences bridge differences that might otherwise feel insurmountable.” Finding what we have in common and learning to lean on others are lessons she relates that resonated with me. Between Two Kingdoms is a poignant, yet hopeful, reminder to never give up because it’s never too late to begin again.
After Jaouad’s emotional memoir, I wanted something a little lighter to read, so I turned to historical fiction and stumbled upon a pair of books that details the challenges faced by women wanting to practice medicine in 19th century Europe.
Audrey Blake, the pseudonym of writing partners Regina Sirois and Jaima Fixsen, begins the story with The Girl in His Shadow (Sourcebooks Landmark, May 2021). It introduces readers to Nora Beady, an orphan raised by renown London surgeon Dr. Horace Croft, who dreams of being recognized for her accomplishments as his trusted assistant. The arrival of surgical resident Dr. Daniel Gibson forces Nora to play the role of a proper young lady until she makes a discovery that could change the field of medicine forever.
Forced to decide whether to let the men around her take credit or step out of the shadows and risk everything she’s worked for, the riveting story relates what life was probably like for the few women aspiring to be doctors in England in the mid-1800s.
Even if medicine is not your thing, the relationships between Nora, Daniel, Dr. Croft and the other characters will keep you reading, and it’s inspiring to see how one woman struggles to break free from societal stereotypes in Victorian England.
Nora’s story continues in The Surgeon’s Daughter (Sourcebooks Landmark, May 2022). She’s now in Italy studying medicine and working alongside Magdalena Morenco, the sole female doctor on the university’s staff as they attempt to improve a groundbreaking surgery: the Cesarean section.
In real history, Bologna was well-known as a haven for women aspiring to break free of societal expectations, so the city is the perfect backdrop for Nora and Magdalena’s attempt to gain acceptance among their male colleagues. It’s also a fitting place to attempt to change the world and women’s roles in the workplace.
I further explored pioneering women in a work of biographical nonfiction.
Olivia Campbell’s Women in White Coats: How the First Women Doctors Changed the World of Medicine (Park Row Books, March 2021) delves into what motivated Elizabeth Blackwell, Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Sophia Jex-Blake to fight for their places in the male-dominated field and create medical care for women by women. Their courage and willingness to break boundaries in the 19th century reshaped how women receive care and paved the way for countless others to become doctors today.
