* A huge thank you to Anne from Random Things Tours, Troubador Publishing and Mellany Ambrose, for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis:
The story is set in 1814. Thomas Hammond is an apothecary surgeon whose apprentice is eighteen-year-old local
orphan, John Keats. Thomas sees John as a daydreamer who wastes time reading. Thomas failed to save John’s
mother four years earlier, and when John criticises Thomas’s methods tempers 2are on both sides. Despite their
differences, Thomas and John begin to develop a grudging respect for each other with Thomas seeing a humanity in
the way John relates to patients. Their relationship deepens into one more resembling father and son while Thomas's
true son, Edward, disappoints his father. Thomas realises John is gifted and would make a skilled surgeon, but to
help John succeed Thomas must confront his own past mistakes. On the verge of qualifying as a surgeon, John
unexpectedly abandons medicine for poetry, ending all Thomas’s hopes. Thomas is devastated and struggles to find meaning in his life and work. As he faces one last challenge, can the master learn some valuable lessons about
life from his poetic apprentice before it’s too late?
My review:
The book delves into the harsh realities of being a Georgian apothecary and surgeon. The burden of healing is heavy on Thomas Hammond's shoulders, he also harbours a dark secret from his past. Hammond has two apprentices, his son, Edward - who thinks he's better than he actually is! And John Keats, an orphan who has a promising future ahead in medicine, but would rather write poetry instead. Although we don't know much about the real John Keats' time as an apothecaries apprentice, Mellany Ambrose has weaved a convincing and beautiful story about what might have been.
I really appreciated the amount of research the author undertook to write the book. How many of us would survive a Georgian era illness? With bleedings, leeches, laudanum, teeth pulling, difficult births and amputations galore, it's a miracle anyone survived historical medical practices! The book also looks at death and grief, with Thomas noticing how much humanity John has for their dying patients.
Although Thomas and John start off their working relationship butting heads, they end up helping to heal each other. I really loved this book! I think it is a wonderful tribute to John Keats, who died tragically young.
You can buy your own copy here (don't forget to check your local independent book shop first!)
Author bio:
"I worked as a hospital doctor and general practitioner in the NHS for nearly 30 years. My interest in Keats’s medical career arose when I discovered he’d trained as an apprentice close to where I was working as a GP. I spent many happy hours researching in the British and Wellcome Libraries and visiting sites related to Keats’s life and Georgian era medicine." See my website mellanyambrose.com for more on Keats and the history of medicine: Instagram @mellanyambrose Twitter @mellanyambrose
Thanks for the blog tour support x
ReplyDelete