Dirty Work: A Novel

by Gabriel Weston Narrated by Carolyn Cook

Overview

An informed and arresting debut novel about a young surgeon in crisis, by a writer whose "exactitude of expression is rare and uncanny" (Rachel Cusk).

Nancy Mullion, an obstetrician-gynecologist whose botched surgery has put a patient in a life-threatening coma, must face a medical tribunal to determine if she can continue to practice medicine. Nancy's fears about both her patient's chances for survival and whether she will be "undoctored" are made palpable to the reader. Throughout four weeks of intense questioning and accusations, this physician directly confronts for the first time her work as an abortion provider -- how it helps the lives of others but takes a heavy toll on her own.

Interweaving memories of Nancy's English and American childhood and adolescence, Dirty Work creates an emotionally charged portrait of one woman's life; the telling of seemingly untellable stories sets her free, as it can all women. Gabriel Weston has given us a truly original, courageous, and meaningful novel.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Praise for Dirty Work:
"A lot of books are called 'brave,' and they aren't. Dirty Work is."—Lionel Shriver, author of We Need to Talk About Kevin

"Weston has an unwavering passion for the truth as well as the courage to tell it."—The Telegraph (UK)

"Perfectly measured doses of compassion, respect for human dignity and straight-talking attention to detail....A gripping read."—Observer (UK)

"Making Nancy self-aware allows Weston to explore a doctor's feelings in a way that is nuanced and affecting."—Times (UK)

"In Dirty Work, the weave of past and present, strength of characterization and storytelling, captured my attention and masterfully pulled me through the ethical challenges at the heart of the book. I learned so much about abortion generally, about my own feelings on the subject, and about the complexities of medicine-particularly in those areas where doing the right thing is unimaginably hard."—Louise Aronson, author of A History of the Present Illness and associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco

"A medical and moral tour de force."—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Kirkus Reviews

2014-07-03
A London doctor is summoned beforean ethics board for allegedly botching an abortion in Weston's fiction debut. Dr. Nancy Mullion, a fledglinggynecologist, faces a potentially career-ending hearing before a hospital tribunal.Her patient, the subject of the inquiry, lies comatose in the ICU, connected toa ventilator. The hearing, which acts as a frame of sorts for the story,proceeds in increments, as Nancy, too frantic with guilt to focus on defendingherself, relives the childhood, young adulthood and professional life thatbrought her to this pass. Nothing in her relatively benign early life hasprepared her for this catastrophe. A brief and happy stint in America, someromantic disappointments and grueling surgical training have left her psychemostly unscathed. However, due to social anxiety and a self-confessed inabilityto say no, she's been steered into a specialty that her colleagues view asanathema: performing abortions. Nancy is steadfastly pro-choice, and has had anabortion herself, and she begins to see the hypocrisy of a medical system whichhas marginalized the practitioners who do this "dirty work." As she recognizesthat her unearned status as a pariah and scapegoat has compromised theimpartiality of the doctors who are judging her, she is finally able toconfront what actually happened in that particular operating theater and cometo terms with her conduct. Perhaps out of reluctance to bore or puzzle thelayperson, readers are not told in any detail what transpires at the hearings,and as a result, the question of Nancy's culpability is somewhat blurred. Herambivalence and her anguish over the impossible dilemmas visited upon bothherself and her patients are sharply delineated, however.A cautionary professionalcoming-of-age tale which faces the moral quandary posed by abortion head-on.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170138944
Publisher:	Hachette Audio
Publication date:	08/12/2014
Edition description:	Unabridged

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