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"It took 20 years,” writes Fergal Keane in The Madness, “before I came to the point of accepting I was addicted to war.”

This extraordinary book by War Journalist Fergal Keane is an exploration of his journey, generational trauma, PTSD, addiction and so much more.

It seems right to release this episode this week, with Armistice Day at the weekend and so much conflict and horror in the world around us currently

I loved talking to Forensic Psychiatrist Emily Ramsay about it.

https://twitter.com/drerpsych

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It was a huge privilige to meet Rowena Christmas aka "the doctor" from Polly Moreland's wonderful book A Fortunate Woman.

Among other things we talk about John Berger's original book A Fortunate Man, living and working locally to your practice, the joys of continuity, community and the wonderful weird world of being a GP.

Follow Rowena on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/ChristmasRowena

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It was an honour when paeditrician Cristina approached me on Instagram to tell me how much Loveless had meant to her when she listened to it by accident on a long commute and suddenly jigsaw pieces of her own life fell into place.

We talk about the importance of representation in fiction, the spectrum of sexuality and gender identity and what it means to be asexual (which includes busting myths around asexuality and celibacy)

It's Ace week from 22-28th October 2023 have a look here for more info https://aceweek.org/

Cristina recommends https://www.asexuality.org/ as a great starting point if you want to know more.

Obviously follow brilliant author Alice Oseman on instagram https://www.instagram.com/aliceoseman/?hl=en and find Cristina here: https://twitter.com/munchkindr on Twitter or https://www.instagram.com/jarofmeows on instagram

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When Claire McKie recommended Kitchen Table Wisdom by Rachel Remen to me I realised she wasn't the first person who'd suggested it and somehow it had drifted down my to-read pile.  I'm actually embarrassed it took me so long to realise it was almost everything I'd been looking at in a book to dip in and out of and to recommend endlessly to others.

There's a global flavour to today - me in the UK, Claire in Australia discussing a book written by a physician from the USA.

Claire and I had a fabulous conversation about conversations and stories. We explore the power of listening and of stories to help us make sense of the world as well as talking about the way that revisiting old favourites often shows us different perspectives on something that seems familiar.

If you don't have a copy of it yet, get yours here: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/kitchen-table-wisdom-stories-that-inspire-rachel-naomi-remen/5024712?ean=9781529045864

we also thought about the other books with which we'd file this on a helf: Listen by Kathryn Mannix, Self Compassion by Kristen Neff, Time to Think by Nancy Kline and Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown - all of which have been covered as  previous episodes of this podcast and might eb worth going back to.

We talked about the Civility Saves Lives movement https://www.civilitysaveslives.com/

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What a book! Anna Kent's Frontline Midwife blew me away.  Getting to meet her to record this conversation was just phenomenal. 

Her publishers blurb reads: "At twenty-six years old, Anna Kent helped a woman deliver her baby in a tropical storm by the light of a headtorch. At age thirty she would be responsible for the female health of 30,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. But returning to work for the NHS in the UK, she soon learned that even at home the right to a safe birth was impossible to take for granted. Frontline Midwife is Kent's compassionate testament to the critical work of healthcare professionals around the world." and if that wasn't enough to suck you in.

This conversation does cover some triggering themes - we talk about maternal and child mortality, about healthcare worker trauma, burnout, moral injury and PTSD.

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Ash Bainbridge is an agender parent, student midwife, and advocate for language as safety, progress, and glue. They join me today to discuss Dr Meera Shah's phenomenal book "you're the only one I've told - stories of abortion".

We talk about the potential taboos that still abound in maternity care, the importance of hearing intersectional stories from a range of people, the way we both believe passionately that you cannot dissociate termination of pregnancy from maternity and so much more.




RESOURCES

https://www.mamaacademy.org.uk/professionals-hub/midwifery-resources/gender-inclusion/

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Hollie McNish https://holliepoetry.com/ is a poet, performer and writer.  Her collection Slug (and other things I've been told to hate) made me laugh, cry, rage and so much more.

Her instagram is a joy to behold https://www.instagram.com/holliepoetry/

I loved talking to Sarah Goulding about it and talking about life, relationships, parenting, growing up, swearing, being female, death, puberty, masturbation, owning words and so much more.

Follow Sarah on Twitter here https://twitter.com/drsarahgoulding

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It's a bit nerve wracking when you welcome another podcast host to guest - this week was a joy though as I'm talking to Dr Jane Currie host of   https://uk-podcasts.co.uk/podcast/conversations-in-fetal-medicine about the brilliant short novel Wonder  by RJ Palacio

We explore themes around kindness, accessibility, visible difference and bullying among others.

We also talked abut some resources:

https://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/our-work-and-impact/children-and-families/young-carers/

https://www.civilitysaveslives.com/

Antenatal Results and Choices
https://www.arc-uk.org/

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Today's episode was made possible by the power of the platform formerly known as Twitter (which I can't bear to refer to by its new name and logo but that's a whole other story)

I was blown away by Tim Ewins' novel Tiny Pieces of Enid which I was given by a friend a few weeks ago.  As the excessive extrovert that I am, I NEEEDED to talk about it and turned to twitter and a "has anyone read this? Who can I talk about it with?" post was responded to in moments by none other than Tim himself!!!

Tiny Pieces of Enid  is primarily a love story with at it's heart Enid and Roy, an elderly couple whose world is about to be torn in two by the realisation that they cannot stay living in their home together. Theirs is a story familiar to many of us who work in the community, but hearing their voices and seeing their responses through their eyes is so important.

Among other things we mention how well this book would fit in a trio with Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey and  Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon, the ideas of allowing acceptable risks to be taken by older adults as explored in Being Mortal by Atul Gawande.

You can buy Tiny Pieces of Enid (and the other three slightly related books!) here from my favourite bookshop or from any other bookshop you choose: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/scarthinbooks

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Queenie Jenkins is a twenty-five-year-old Jamaican British woman living in London, straddling two cultures and slotting neatly into neither. She works at a national newspaper, where she’s constantly forced to compare herself to her white middle class peers. After a messy break up from her long-term white boyfriend, Queenie seeks comfort in all the wrong places…including several hazardous men who do a good job of occupying brain space and a bad job of affirming self-worth.

As Queenie careens from one questionable decision to another, she finds herself wondering, “What are you doing? Why are you doing it? Who do you want to be?”—all of the questions today’s woman must face in a world trying to answer them for her.

It was a great pleasure to welcome Sabina Dosani back to Bedside reading this week to talk about Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams.

We discuss sex, bodies, intersectionality, expectations and how we make sense of narratives when we dislike the protagonists (much like how we connect with patients we don't like)

Follow Sabina on Twitter here:

https://twitter.com/DrSabinaDosani

we mentioned https://fivexmore.org/ a campaign to highlight and reduce maternal mortality for black women. 

We also touched on the book Divided  by Annabel Sowemimo which Tara has now read and would thoroughly recommend.  Order it here: https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/divided-racism-medicine-and-why-we-need-to-decolonise-healthcare-annabel-sowemimo/6331076?ean=9781788169202 or from the independent bookshop of your choice