Category: Joanna Cannon

Breaking & Mending: A Junior Doctor’s Stories of Compassion & Burnout by Joanna Cannon

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Breaking & Mending: A Junior Doctor’s Stories of Compassion & Burnout by Joanna Cannon

 

Summary:

 had never felt so ill. I was mentally and physically broken. So fractured, I hadn’t eaten properly or slept well, or even changed my expression for months. I sat in a cubicle, behind paper-thin curtains and I shook with the effort of not crying. I was an inch away from defeat… but I knew I had to carry on.

Because I wasn’t the patient. I was the doctor.”

In this powerful memoir, Joanna Cannon tells her story as a junior doctor in visceral, heart-rending snapshots.

We walk with her through the wards, facing extraordinary and daunting moments: from attending her first post-mortem, sitting with a patient through their final moments, to learning the power of a well- or badly chosen word. These moments, and the small sustaining acts of kindness and connection that punctuate hospital life, teach her that emotional care and mental health can be just as critical as restoring a heartbeat.
In a profession where weakness remains a taboo, this moving, beautifully written book brings to life the vivid, human stories of doctors and patients – and shows us why we need to take better care of those who care for us.

 

My Review:

Many will know of Joanna Cannon the author of The Trouble with Goats and Sheep and Three Things about Elsie but before Joanna became an author she graduated from medical school and became a hospital doctor before specialising in psychiatry. Now Joanna Cannon has penned a powerful memoir Breaking & Mending: A Junior Doctor’s Stories of Compassion & Burnout about her time working on the wards.

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What Joanna Cannon has created here is a window into her own world back in the days when she graduated and suddenly everything became real. From attending seminars an and all the studying now suddenly Joanna was faced with pressures of being a junior doctor and seeing real patients with real medical problems, all of them want to be seen and made well. Then there is attending the first post-mortem. We have all been patients in one form or another but many of us would run a mile at the thought of becoming a junior doctor and the sheer pressure of just the job title would be enough to frighten many of us. It takes a very special person to hear the calling of wanting to go through all the training and studying to become a junior doctor and then enter the NHS that is creaking under so much pressure and cut-backs.

I have only met Joanna Cannon once but I have known Joanna on Social Media since before her first novel was released. There are some people who a just destined in their lives to help others and Joanna is that person. Her compassion for her fellow man has been clear since those early days and a heart that cries out to help others. When I was reading Breaking & Mending I was so moved by her own story of being a junior doctor and at times moved me to tears.

When we are broken in one way or another we enter hospital to be mended and we see nurses and doctors constantly under pressure. When a junior doctor or anyone else working in medicine is broken who is there for them? That is a question many of us will have asked ourselves when we have been in hospital but never see. They are human just like we are and they break but in a way that we may never see or hear. But reading Joanna’s powerful memoir those stories are here contained on each page. Those that work in medicine deserve our respect and also our understanding.

The stories that Joanna shares with us are incredibly emotional and at times utterly heart-breaking. Yet this is one of the most beautiful and heartfelt books I have read this year. I am so very grateful for being given the chance have read Breaking & Mending and is a book I would recommend to everyone.

I have held back this review as Joanna Cannon is appearing at the Cheltenham Literature Festival on Monday 7th October at 6.30pm.

There are just a few tickets remaining at the time of writing this. For more details: Please visit:   Cheltenham Literature Festival 07.10.2019 Event

#BreakingandMeding @JoannaCannon

@ProfileBooks #ExploreWellcome

176 Pages

My thanks to Profile Books for the review copy of Breaking & Mending: A Junior Doctor’s Stories of Compassion & Burnout by Joanna Cannon.

Breaking & Mending: A Junior Doctor’s Stories of Compassion & Burnout by Joanna Cannon was published by Profile Books (Wellcome Collection) and was published on 26th September 2019 and is available to pre-order through Waterstones, Amazon and through your local independent bookshop.

Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon

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Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon

First Review of 2018.

I have to admit to being a bit of a fan of Joanna Cannon’s writing and loved her debut novel The Trouble with Goats and Sheep, one of those books that left an indelible mark on me. I lost count of how many copies I ended giving away to family, friends and also prize giveaways on my blog.

 

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Joanna Cannon returns with her second novel Three Things About Elsie which is officially released into bookshops on the 11th January (The Borough Press). The first thing that will strike you when you go and buy a copy is the fabulous Battenberg themed cover. It is one of the most striking of covers. A cake themed cover. This could really catch on.

I am deeply humbled to have been mentioned in the Acknowledgements. I never thought that when I started talking about books that one day I would end up seeing my name in print. Thank you Joanna.

There are books that come into your life and move you in a way that makes you look at life in a new way some books make you appreciate not only yourself but others around you. I felt this in Joanna’s debut novel but in Three Things About Elsie this is much more evident. Joanna Cannon has a way with words that when she writes she writes from the heart and is telling YOU the reader a story with a message contained within that she would like you to connect with. This story is tender, warm and humane. I personally think it is better than The Trouble with Goats and Sheep and I never thought I would say that.

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The story opens with Florence Claybourne lying on the floor after a fall at Cherry Tree Home for the Elderly. There Florence lies waiting to be found. Imagine for a moment an elderly person falling and lying just waiting and hoping to be found. What goes through their minds during this time? Scared and frightened and alone. For Florence as she lies on the floor of her flat she is thinking of recent days and trying to make sense of her memories. How has the past returned is it at all possible?

Florence has a best friend and her name is Elsie and it is Elsie who helps Florence remember things. They have known each other for sixty years. But Flo has a secret from the past. Literally a ghost has appeared at Cherry Tree in the form of a man who died all those years ago. What is going on? So now it is down to Florence and her best Friend Elsie to solve the mystery. How I really enjoyed reading how they go about proving something they believe is not right. At times I laughed at what they got up to. Thanks to Joanna’s wonderful vivid writing you are there with them.

There is a problem though for Florence the manager at the home thinks that Florence is causing problems at the home and is threatening to move Florence to Greenbank. This she believes is where you go to die and she does not want to be sent there. ‘You can’t make me’ she exclaims early into the book.

Elsie is always there for Florence as she always has been through the last sixty years. Now more than ever and this is the true meaning of friendship. There are so many wonderful characters there is Handy Simon and Miss Bissell and of course Miss Ambrose. Characters make novels and the people you meet here in Three Things About Elsie are real and they help make this such a wonderful humane book and really enjoyed meeting them.

Over recent weeks I have spoken a lot about hope and here Joanna Cannon gives us all hope. The real hope of friendship, tolerance and understanding of the things we hold dear and of course love. This is a book of sheer tenderness and an understanding of age and how memory can play tricks with us as the years move on. There are books that are like a warm duvet on a cold winters night. Three Things About Elsie is that duvet. As we enter a New Year full of hope this is a novel that acts as a beacon of humanity and so many facets of this book that I just loved. Heart-warming and sympathetic.

When I first left School I worked in care home for the elderly I was the Handyman (John) and shared some moments that were funny but also those that are tender and humane. Let us not forget the people who live there are real people with lives and still are living.

Grab some Battenberg and settle down with a book that you will read and then read again. A book to be loved and shared. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

464 Pages.

My thanks to Ann Bissell (Harper Collins) for the Advanced Review Copy of Three Things About Elsie.

Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon is published by The Borough Press and is published on 11th January 2018 and is available to Pre-order through Waterstones, also Amazon and all good bookshops.

The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon (Special Summer edition) Competition

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Many who love the writing of Joanna Cannon have been very excited over recent days with the news of her second book Three Things About Elsie due for release in early January 2018. The first copies of the proofs were issued late last week and the early news is that this is going to be a much loved book and will touch all who read it. It will be one of the books of next year that is without doubt.

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Joanna’s debut novel The Trouble with Goats and Sheep went on to become a bestseller and today is still selling extremely well and was even selected to be on the Richard and Judy Book Club for WH Smith. It is a remarkable debut novel about two ten-year-old girls Grace and Tilly who set about trying to solve a mystery. Mrs Creasy is missing and there are whispers. A beautiful written novel about secrets behind every front door but it is more than just that.

It came to my attention that there are still some (yes hard to believe) that have not yet discovered The Trouble with Goats and Sheep and as Joanna’s forthcoming second novel is already talk of social media with a cover that is just pure Battenberg,  I thought it would be a good time to a competition to win not just one copy but I have two to give away. But that is not all. These editions are the special copies produced in the yellow paperback cover as issued by Sainsbury’s to celebrate Summer as this wonderful novel is set in a long hot Summer that some of us still recall. Sadly, I am not offering free Battenberg as I am keeping that for myself. Sorry!

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To enter the competition all you have to do is head over to my Twitter page The Last Word 1962 and answer one simple question:

In what year is the novel The Trouble with Goats and Sheep based in. Then follow and RT the main pinned Tweet and you are in with a chance. There I told it was easy. It is easy honest.

Just to recap:

  1. In what year is the novel The Trouble with Goats and Sheep based?
  2. Follow and Re-Tweet the pinned Tweet

The completion will close at 7pm on Thursday 17th August 2018 and two lucky winners will be selected at random on Friday morning. The Winners will receive a Direct Message from me on Twitter that morning. All being well prizes will be sent out within a few days. Good luck.

 

The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon

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The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon

The Last Word Review

Captivating, charming, intuitive. A debut novel that will sweep you off your feet and one that capture the hearts of its readers

 

It would be so easy for me to say here is one of the most eagerly anticipated debut novels of 2016. Well actually it is and what is more it is one of the best debut novels I can remember in a long time. Much praise has been heaped upon Joanna Cannon’s first novel and it stands up to the litmus test so early in the year of being one of the books of 2016 I have the feeling we will be talking about ‘Goats and Sheep’ a lot during the coming year.

The Trouble with Goats and Sheep is set in a typical English avenue during the long hot Summer months of 1976. Mrs Creasy has suddenly gone missing this is not like Mrs Creasy to just wander off, the curtains are twitching and Mr Creasy is seen wandering the streets looking for his missing wife.

What is needed here are two amateur sleuths to investigate, on the case come Grace and Tilley, who are Grace and Tilly? They are two ten-year-olds. But there is more to this than a hunt for the missing Mrs Creasy. They believe that God has the answer and as that God is everywhere he will know the whereabouts the missing Mrs Creasy.

When you add to the story that the Avenue is alive with ‘talk’ and that Mrs Creasy was friends with everyone and therefore knew all their secrets there are one or two neighbours who realise that she knew too much and are hoping their secrets have gone for good along with Mrs Creasy.

We have a story that moves along so beautifully you find yourself wishing the book would go one for much longer than the 464 pages it seems a long story but I promise you this will sweep you off your feet and will carry you along with it and then before you know it the story is over. The Trouble with Goats and Sheep is like wrapping yourself in warm cosy duvet it just makes you feel warm or maybe it is just the thought of that hot Summer.

As with any neighbourhood there are always one or two that are seen as different to the rest even as far undesirable residents that do not fit into the Avenue. There are some here and you will get too meet them here. Grace and Tilly are two of the most memorable endearing characters I have read in a book for many years and a pure joy to behold.  I just loved the way Grace swept poor Tilly up at the start of the book as she had just moved in across the road. The two become friends and so the story begins a pure delight. It is not too often that a book comes along that fills your heart with joy. It is poignant and totally unforgettable. A story of secrets and lies also it is a story of coming of age, there is humour in the story but some elements are dark as we just do not know what secrets lie behind every front door. How the book got its title comes out through the story and I will not ruin that here, the reader can discover this for themselves. One thing is for sure, you will look at people from here and wonder ‘Goat or Sheep’

I was 14 in that Summer and the memories are as vivid today as if it was yesterday but the sheer beauty of the research by the author with a few added gems just helped me awaken more memories of those long hot shimmering days that seemed to last forever.

The Trouble with Goats and Sheep, a wonderful and unforgettable tale.

 

My thanks to Borough Press and to Ann Bissell for an advanced review copy ahead of publication.

The Trouble with Goats and Sheep written by Joanna Cannon and is published on 28 January 2016 by The Borough Press.