Tuesday, 3rd February
The Garden by Nick Newman
Two elderly sisters tend a large walled garden, planting and reaping crops according to the plans left to them in an almanac written by their mother. They are entirely self-sufficient; they believe that the outside world is a wilderness and that they will only survive if they remain in the garden and live as their mother dictated.
They inhabit one part of a large house, the doors to the upper levels sealed off – the secrets of their past locked behind them. And they dare not look beyond the walls of the garden for fear of what lurks outside. But then the arrival of a young boy unsettles their careful routines and makes them begin to question the existence they have so carefully forged and the truths that have been laid out for them…
The Apothecary’s Wife by Karen Bloom Gervirtz
Paperback, University of California Press US
A groundbreaking genealogy of for-profit healthcare and an urgent reminder that centering women’s history offers vital opportunities for shaping the future.
The running joke in Europe for centuries was that anyone in a hurry to die should call the doctor. As far back as ancient Greece, physicians were notorious for administering painful and often fatal treatments—and charging for the privilege. For the most effective treatment, the ill and injured went to the women in their lives. This system lasted hundreds of years. It was gone in less than a century.
Contrary to the familiar story, medication did not improve during the Scientific Revolution. Yet somehow, between 1650 and 1740, the domestic female and the physician switched places in the cultural consciousness: she became the ineffective, potentially dangerous quack, he the knowledgeable, trustworthy expert. The professionals normalized the idea of paying them for what people already got at home without charge, laying the foundation for Big Pharma and today’s global for-profit medication system. A revelatory history of medicine, The Apothecary’s Wife challenges the myths of the triumph of science and instead uncovers the fascinating truth. Drawing on a vast body of archival material, Karen Bloom Gevirtz depicts the extraordinary cast of characters who brought about this transformation. She also explores domestic medicine’s values in responses to modern health crises, such as the eradication of smallpox, and what benefits we can learn from these events.
Thursday, 5th February
Paper Cut by Rachel Taff
EVERYBODY KNOWS THE STORY. NOBODY KNOWS THE TRUTH…
Lucy Golden is a true-crime icon, infamous for killing someone as a teenager while escaping a California cult.
Twenty years later, still coasting on the success of the memoir she wrote after her acquittal, Lucy knows that her story is always just one news cycle away from obscurity, even as online trolls ask questions that threaten to tear her life apart.
So when a hot-shot documentary filmmaker decides to make her case his next subject, Lucy sees a chance to silence her doubters once and for all. But just how far will Lucy go to protect the story she’s been telling – and selling – all along?
The Day My Brother Got Famous by Jen Carney
First Ferris Foster’s dog got famous, and then his school did! He’s ready for normal life again, that is until his new foster brother Arthur arrives:
- The boys couldn’t be more different: Arthur is OBSESSED with space, whereas Ferris has more down-to-earth hobbies, like rating crisps out of 10.
- Arthur’s going to spend half-term at camp, giving Ferris the time (and space) to draw the best cartoon ever and win a grand cash prize that could change everything.
- On top of all that, Ferris and his mums are preparing for a nerve-wracking interview which will decide if they’ll finally become his foster-sister Keely’s forever family.
But when the Fosters drop Arthur off at Camp Space-Tacular, he has a SUPERNOVA of a meltdown and doesn’t want Ferris to leave! Can Ferris help Arthur, draw his competition-winning comic, and convince Keely’s social worker he’s the perfect big brother, or are his plans just too astronomical?!
