Friday, July 10, 2020

Eight books that will immerse you in medicine's long, messy past

Lydia Kang is an author of young adult fiction, adult fiction and non-fiction, and poetry. She graduated from Columbia University and New York University School of Medicine, completing her residency and chief residency at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. She is a practicing physician who has gained a reputation for helping fellow writers achieve medical accuracy in fiction.

Her most recent novel is Opium and Absinthe.

At CrimeReads, Kang tagged eight "books that have been shaped by medicine’s long and messy past." One title on the list:
The Bone Garden by Tess Gerritsen

Gerritsen is a prolific contemporary medical thriller writer, but The Bone Garden takes a step back in time for a change. We learn about murders in 1830 that may or may not involve a resurrectionist (a body snatcher who steals corpses for anatomy lessons). Only this resurrectionist is innocent, and must prove it. Gerritson seamlessly weaves two narratives from the present day and the past. You’ll be holding your breath until that last page.
Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue