Book cover of Dr James Barry

Book description

A Sunday Times Book of the Year

As featured on the BBC Radio 2 Book Club

Dr James Barry: Inspector General of Hospitals, army surgeon, duellist, reformer, ladykiller, eccentric. He performed the first successful Caesarean in the British Empire, outraged the military establishment and gave Florence Nightingale a dressing down…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Dr James Barry as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Dr James Barry tells the story of Margaret Anne Bulkley, a poor Irish girl in late 18th-century Cork who, refusing to accept her lot and with the help of a few well-placed sponsors, got herself an education and some trousers and turned herself into Dr James Barry. This is a gripping and meticulously researched account of her climb through the medical world and her trek across the globe, where the fear of her gender being discovered lurks on every page. Some parts are gruesome (diseases are horribly well researched and the description of a human dissection in chapter 7 is…

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Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.

The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…

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