Breaking & Mending (eBook)

Before she became a novelist, Cannon worked as a doctor. Here, she recalls her days on the wards in the most moving way.

Cannon is on her way to becoming a national treasure - no one does quirky, funny and soul-searing the way she does

One of the most beautiful books you will ever read

Fascinating read

Intimate, delicately constructed and as absorbing as it is arresting

All doctors should read this - and patients too. Emotionally wise and beautifully written

Breathtaking

Powerful, shocking and intimate all at the same time

The story of the struggling NHS has been told in several excellent books recently, and this is among the best. We need to listen.

Now a best-selling writer, Cannon's stories of her time as a junior doctor explore how humans can give each other hope and compassion in even the darkest of moments.

There's an admirable ballsiness to Cannon. She whistleblows. She wears her heart on her sleeve. Plainly, she wants to nurture mental health in others and seeks to expose the stress, ridiculous workload and lack of pastoral care she experienced in medicine ... She writes lyrically, with a novelist's verve and colour

A deeply moving, thought-provoking memoir written with true compassion and intelligence

Joanna Cannon's powerful, moving memoir of her time as a junior doctor is so good.

It is a breathtaking book ... Cannon's narrative skill here is subtle yet tremendous ... Cannon does language expertly, describing not only how to live, but why. I imagine she was the kind of doctor that surely all doctors should strive to be: human, honest, questioning, and (carefully) kind ... Joanna Cannon's story is beautiful. Here's to the wild cards.

Has all the makings of a highly charged novel, complete with unsavoury characters: the registrar who abandons the newly qualified Cannon mid-shift to go on holiday, the consultant who shouts and spits on her during a meeting. And there is plenty of tragedy, as she writes frankly about how difficult she found it to maintain professional distance from her most heartbreaking cases. Ultimately, though, hers is a hopeful story ... this NHS memoir is well-paced and often beautifully told.

A book driven by kindness and hope. It's a rare view into a strange and challenging word.

This raw and emotional memoir ... is full of depth and insight, and made me so grateful to all those who work in healthcare.

There is so much compassion in this memoir, so much kindness and empathy. But there is also anger at the way the caring profession doesn't seem to care for those who work in it. It's a heartbreaking read but it ends on a hopeful note.

Wonderful