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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

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‘Ultimately, my experiences as a mental health nurse have taught me that we should judge less and open our hearts more.’

Belinda Black was just seventeen years old when she began working as a nursing assistant at the large and foreboding ‘madhouse’, as it was then known to the villagers of her hometown in the north of England. Following in the footsteps of her mother, she went on to spend a decade caring for patients with widely varying mental health problems, all locked up together and out of view of society. Some had suffered unimaginable trauma, several had violent and volatile tendencies, but amongst this Belinda found moments of joy and even friendship with her patients.

Together, against a backdrop of rattling keys, clanging iron doors, and wards that smelled of disinfectant and stale smoke, these people came together to get through another day. Until the hospital, along with many others, had its doors closed in 1991 – the biggest change to mental healthcare in NHS history.

The result is a moving, shocking but ultimately life-affirming account of a unique and noble profession, told from the frontlines.

I really enjoyed my conversation with Belinda about her accidental career, the stories she has collected, the relationships and camaraderie of her career and the value if keeping compassion at the heart of everything we do.

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There are few people on #MedTwitter as passionate about children's books as I am but today I have completely met my match in the utterly fabulous Bipolar Doc.  If you follow her already she will need no introduction as one of the most thoughtful, thought provoking, kind and reflective accounts to follow. If not, find her here:

https://twitter.com/doc_bipolar

We are talking about Onjali K Rauf's masterful children's novel The Star Outside my Window which follows the adventures of 10 year old Aniyah and her little brother Noah as they navigate the foster care system after the death of their mum, and go on a big old adventure to try and name a new star in her memory.

It's a wonderful novel and Onjali Rauf is not just a great writer but an wonderful human who runs the charity https://makingherstory.org.uk/

The bipolar doc recommended the children's book https://jesslove.format.com/julian-is-a-mermaid and I mentioned a great book about death called All The Living  And The Dead  by Hayley Campbell https://www.hayleycampbell.com/all-the-living-and-the-dead

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The Lost Properties of Love by Sophie Ratcliffe defies classification. This is a gorgeous book, part memoir, part journey with links and musings on many other books, themes and ideas. GP Sue Potter joined me to talk about it.

We talk about heroes, being a fangirl, journeys, reflections on life, motherhood, success and so much more.


Follow the author of the book, Sophie Ratcliffe here https://twitter.com/soratcli

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Delia Owens' 2018 coming of age novel Where the Crawdads Sing has sold an incredible 18 million copies and was released as a film in 2022.  I'm joined this week by GP Rosemary Hickman to discuss ACEs, being transported to another world, illiteracy, secrets and so much more.

If you've not already read the novel it would be a great pick for a summer holiday read. The film adaptation is utterly beautiful too.

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Bonnie Garmus' debut novel about chemist Elizabeth Zott, co-narrated by Six-Thirty the dog who must be one of the most fabulous anthrpomomorphised animals in a novel continues to be THE book club book of the moment. Found on every bookshops bestseller shelf, impossible to miss in the supermarket or in airport bookshops it sold 220, 000 copies in hardback in the UK and appears beside sunloungers the world over as the perfect holiday read.  What better book to discuss in the first week of August therefore as we all plan our summer reading?

I'm delighted to welcome back Kathleen Wenaden, GP and poet from London to discuss this book which I will admit, I raced through, enjoyed but do not love.....

Follow Kathleen on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/kathleenwenade1

We mentioned the brilliant Oncology Book Club on Twitter, find them here https://twitter.com/BookOncology (you don't need to be an oncologist to join in)

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I loved talking to London GP Eugenia Lee about Everything Everything  by Nicola Yoon,

In this fabulous YA novel we meet Madeline Whitter who spends her whole life inside a bubble, with her mother.  Madeline has a rare immune deficiency and cannot remember ever leaving her home.  Shortly after Madeleine’s 18th birthday, a new family moves in next door. A young and seemingly depressed teenage girl, a violent and alcoholic father, a weak and incapable mother but most importantly a boy who is wild, clever and very good looking. A few weeks pass and Madeline starts to learn more and more about the family as she watches them from her bedroom window. Ollie, the boy next door, starts to talk too Madeline over IM. They grow closer and closer but the fact that Madeline is severely ill prevents them from being together.

We talk about adolescent health, fabricated and induced illness, communicating with teenagers.

This is a wonderful short novel, easy to read, immediately engaging which really packs a punch.

The RCPCH guidelines on perplexing presentations and FII can be found here:

https://childprotection.rcpch.ac.uk/resources/perplexing-presentations-and-fii/

If you are interested in mentoring with SMF sign up here: https://www.socialmobility.org.uk/get-involved/professionals/ways-to-get-involved/