A Fortunate Woman
A Country Doctor's Story
Published on 2. March 2023
Book
Paperback/Softback
256 pages
978-1-5290-7117-7 (ISBN)
Description
Shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize
The Top Ten Bestseller
Waterstones Non-Fiction Book of the Month
A Sunday Times Paperback of the Year
'If you want to read a book that moves you both at the level of sentence and the quality of language and with the emotional depth of its subject matter, then A Fortunate Woman is definitely the book you should be reading' - Samanth Subramanian, Baillie Gifford judge
When Polly Morland is clearing out her mother's house she finds a book that will lead her to a remarkable figure living on her own doorstep: the country doctor who works in the same remote, wooded valley she has lived in for many years. This doctor is a rarity in contemporary medicine - she knows her patients inside out, and their stories are deeply entwined with her own.
In A Fortunate Woman, with its beautiful photographs by Richard Baker, Polly Morland has written a profoundly moving love letter to a landscape, a community and, above all, to what it means to be a good doctor.
'Morland writes about nature and the changing landscape with such lyrical precision that her prose sometimes seems close to poetry' - Christina Patterson, The Sunday Times
'Timely . . . compelling . . . a delicately drawn miniature' - Financial Times
'This book deepens our understanding of the life and thoughts of a modern doctor, and the modern NHS, and it expands movingly to chronicle a community and a landscape' - Kathleen Jamie, New Statesman
The Top Ten Bestseller
Waterstones Non-Fiction Book of the Month
A Sunday Times Paperback of the Year
'If you want to read a book that moves you both at the level of sentence and the quality of language and with the emotional depth of its subject matter, then A Fortunate Woman is definitely the book you should be reading' - Samanth Subramanian, Baillie Gifford judge
When Polly Morland is clearing out her mother's house she finds a book that will lead her to a remarkable figure living on her own doorstep: the country doctor who works in the same remote, wooded valley she has lived in for many years. This doctor is a rarity in contemporary medicine - she knows her patients inside out, and their stories are deeply entwined with her own.
In A Fortunate Woman, with its beautiful photographs by Richard Baker, Polly Morland has written a profoundly moving love letter to a landscape, a community and, above all, to what it means to be a good doctor.
'Morland writes about nature and the changing landscape with such lyrical precision that her prose sometimes seems close to poetry' - Christina Patterson, The Sunday Times
'Timely . . . compelling . . . a delicately drawn miniature' - Financial Times
'This book deepens our understanding of the life and thoughts of a modern doctor, and the modern NHS, and it expands movingly to chronicle a community and a landscape' - Kathleen Jamie, New Statesman
Reviews / Votes
Morland writes about nature and the changing landscape with such lyrical precision that her prose sometimes seems close to poetry . . . There has been no shortage in recent years of books about healthcare . . . With this gem, Morland has done something similar for general practice. Let's just hope the policymakers listen. -- Christina Patterson * Sunday Times * The doctor's kindly, holistic approach - she makes time to investigate her patients' social as well as physical needs - seems to evoke a lost world . . . Morland's book contains a profound message for the future at a critical moment for general practice and us all. -- Wendy Moore * TLS * This book deepens our understanding of the life and thoughts of a modern doctor, and the modern NHS, and it expands movingly to chronicle a community and a landscape - "the valley" itself is a defining feature of people's lives. -- Kathleen Jamie * New Statesman * Polly Morland and Richard Baker have more than done justice to the original John Berger book - and produced a work that stimulates the eye and mind in equal measure. -- <span>Alain de Botton</span> I was consoled and compelled by this book's steady gaze on healing and caring. The writing is beautiful. -- <font face="verdana, tahoma"><span>Sarah Moss, author of <i>Summerwater </i>and <i>Ghost Wall</i></span></font> Superb - beautiful, enthralling, careful, tender, a humanitarian act in itself, deeply moral, moving, lucid and loving. -- <font face="verdana, tahoma"><span>Laura Cumming, James Tait Black-winner and bestselling Costa-shortlisted author of <i>The Vanishing Man</i> and <i>On Chapel Sands</i></span></font> All human life is here in this evocative portrayal of the challenges and joys of rural family doctoring in modern times. Enthralling and uplifting. -- <font face="verdana, tahoma">James LeFanu, author <i>The Rise & Fall of Modern Medicine</i></font> A Fortunate Woman is the best book I've read about general practice for a long time. Astonishingly perceptive, it shows how a committed GP can keep human values alive in an increasingly impersonal NHS - and why we urgently need more like her. -- Professor Roger Neighbour OBE. <span>Past President, Royal College of General Practitioners</span>A vibrant and authentic portrait of the rural family doctor in these difficult contemporary times. -- <font face="verdana, tahoma"><span>Trisha Greenhalgh, Professor of Primary Care at the University of Oxford</span></font> One of the best books about medicine that I have read. The patients' stories are vivid, moving, often unforgettable. Polly Morland has written with incredible sensitivity, appreciation and descriptive ability about the valley and the people who live there -- <font face="verdana, tahoma"><span>Professor Roger Jones OBE</span></font> A Fortunate Woman is grounded in a legacy of care and compassion for the community served, shared though a compelling narrative based on patient stories. I loved it. -- <font face="verdana, tahoma"><span>Prof Dame Helen Stokes-Lampard</span></font> I thought it was stunning in style and content and I hope it encourages all readers to reflect on what I agree is your key message - the importance of relationship-base care and the fact that it is under threat. -- <font face="verdana, tahoma"><span>Professor Martin Marshall, Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners</span></font> Beautifully and tenderly written, [A Fortunate Woman] also serves as a topical reminder of what is possible with continuity of care. -- <font face="verdana, tahoma"><span>Caroline Sanderson, 'Editor's Choice'</span></font> * Bookseller *
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Pan Macmillan
Target group
Interest Age: From 18 years
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Illustrations
50 b/w plates
Dimensions
Height: 195 mm
Width: 127 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
228 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5290-7117-7 (9781529071177)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
06/2022
Picador
€15.99
Available for download
Persons
Polly Morland is a writer and documentary maker. She worked for fifteen years in television, producing and directing documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4 and Discovery. She is a regular contributor to newspapers and magazines and is the Royal Literary Fund Fellow in the School of Journalism, Media & Culture at Cardiff University. She is the author of several books, including The Society of Timid Souls: Or, How to Be Brave, which was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and was a Sunday Times Book of the Year, and A Fortunate Woman.