Moral Injuries: The gripping new novel from the No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author

(Paperback)

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'Compulsively readable' SUNDAY TIMES

'A superior medical thriller' GUARDIAN

'Darkly gripping' OBSERVER

You're trained to save the lives of others. But how far would you go to save your own

Olivia, Laura and Anjali couldn't be more different. Inseparable since the first day of medical school, their bond has remained unbreakable. Years ago, they promised nothing would come between them - including the wild university party that forced them to make a deadly choice.

Now working as doctors in high-pressure jobs, with lives and families of their own, their secret binds them tighter still. But when an eerily similar tragedy affects their teenage children, the choice the three women face may not be one their friendship can survive . . .

Reviews

An exploration of moral ambiguity and what it really means to protect a life. Watson understands human flaws with empathy and insight. I've never read a novel before that combines such riveting accounts of frontline medicine, female friendship and family dynamics. Unique and compelling.

* ELIZABETH DAY *
What an enthralling, gripping, deliciously dark and twisted read - full of suspense, intrigue, blood, guts, warmth, tenderness and the trademark gorgeousness of Christie Watson's prose. Moral Injuries sweeps you into the life and death stakes of the hospital. An immersive, unforgettable gem. * DR RACHEL CLARKE, bestselling author of Dear Life *
Moral Injuries takes the reader into a world where medicine meets morality, and every choice has a cost. With page-turning twists, it explores friendship, betrayal and the decisions that define us * NATHAN FILER, author of The Shock of the Fall *
The book reeled me in straight away. It's one of those page-turners where 'I need to know!' and 'I can't bear to know' tussle with each other throughout the narrative, winding tighter and tighter with each new insight. The characters are eerily familiar. The plot is horribly credible. Each new twist screeches like nails on plaster. I'm exhausted. I'm going to be haunted by Olivia for a long, long time * DR KATHRYN MANNIX *
Heart-stopping, twisting, funny and frightening. Moral Injuries is by turns a rattling thriller, a soul-searching look at moral integrity, and a nuanced study of the binds of friendship, status and love * CHRIS WHITAKER, NYT and Sunday Times bestselling author of We Begin At The End *
No-one writes about the drama of medicine like Christie Watson; she takes her readers to the heart of hospital life with its pain and its beauty, its sadnesses and triumphs. * DR GAVIN FRANCIS *
[A] superior medical thriller... a thoughtful, humane and complex examination of ambition, betrayal, moral obligation, and ethical grey areas personal and professional. -- Laura Wilson * GUARDIAN *
Compulsively readable -- Joan Smith * THE SUNDAY TIMES, Pick of the Month *
Thoughtful, darkly gripping... Watson is, unsurprisingly, brilliant on the reality of working in the NHS, and the strain and reality of the trio's jobs (Olivia is a surgeon, Laura an air ambulance doctor, Anjali a GP) is brought to riveting life. She is also excellent on betrayal, female friendships and family, and what we might do to protect it. I was so caught up in it all I had to flick ahead to the end to calm myself down. I don't recommend doing that - but I do recommend Moral Injuries. -- Alison Flood * THE OBSERVER *
Compelling * GOOD HOUSEKEEPING *
[A] must read. * CLOSER *
A propulsive, disturbing, visceral story of moral ambiguity and integrity, what it means to protect those your love - and at what cost, and female friendship. And it's the best fictional depiction of the alchemy, madness and intensity of medicine I have ever read. -- Natasha Poliszczuk * BOOK-ISH *
This book is utterly incredible in every way. I adored every page. Thrilling, pacey, hilarious, moving, so well constructed. I've not met such relatable, deftly hewn characters in an age. This book does so much in exploring unmined areas of women's relationship with their work, and each other, as life goes on. I think we rarely read mature female friendship done well (or at all), with all the complications of children/not children in the mix, but this book captures those betrayals, compromises and transgressions we all are capable of as life goes on - not just in medicine of course, but across life. Which is what makes this wonderful book an impeccably wrought, sharp, shining, clever exploration of mature female friendship, as well as a taut and sizzling medical thriller. Christie writes with a precision and grace that is true literary perfection. * EMMA JANE UNSWORTH *
Intelligent, propulsive and disturbing - I couldn't put it down. The ethical dilemmas at the centre of the book will have readers asking themselves, again and again, what would I do * NIKKI SMITH *
An extraordinary book. Compelling and unsettling in equal measure - Christie Watson deftly weaves a tale that will linger long after you have put it down. * JOHN SUTHERLAND *
Heart-pounding. Soul-wrenching. A psychological thriller that dives into the dark beauty and madness of medicine. What a catharsis to see women bound by friendship and love and ambition peel away the layers of who they are at work. We see them bare their teeth and their souls. It is Big, Little Lies meets Grey's Anatomy in this delicious and satisfying mystery about friendship, love, and why we choose the work we do. Christie Watson has written a masterpiece. * KATE BOWLER *
Propulsive, funny and filled with suspense, Watson's pacy thriller kept me turning the pages late into the right. You know you're in the hands of an expert. A masterclass of its genre * SARAH LANGFORD *
Heart-pounding. Soul-wrenching. A psychological thriller that dives into the dark beauty and madness of medicine. What a catharsis to see women bound by friendship and love and ambition peel away the layers of who they are at work. We see them bare their teeth and their souls. It is Big, Little Lies meets Grey's Anatomy in this delicious and satisfying mystery about friendship, love, and why we choose the work we do. Christie Watson has written a masterpiece. * Kate Bowler *

Author Bio

Christie is Professor of Medical Humanities at UEA and worked as an NHS nurse for over twenty years. She has written five books, including her first novel Tiny Sunbirds Far Away, which won the Costa First Novel Award, and memoir, The Language of Kindness which was a number one Sunday Times bestseller. Christie is a contributor to The Times, Sunday Times, Guardian, Telegraph and TEDx, and her work has been translated into 23 languages and adapted for theatre.